Gorgeous & rare antique French sterling silver 3pc "service a fraises", strawberry or fruit serving set including tongs, sifter ladle or muffineer, knife with beautiful pink tinted mother of pearl handle and all kept in the original fitted storage and/or presentation box! Stunning! Just in from France, this set would have been used for strawberries or fruit, we've been told, but really the uses are not at all limited to that, of course. All three pieces, along with the cartouche on the box, bear the same engraved interlaced monograms so we know all pieces are original, all pieces pristine. The knife does have an unmarked sterling silver collar on the pearl handle with the original steel blade, marked "Paris". The sifter and tongs bear the French Minerve or Minerva hallmark, the tiny number "1" within those marks means they're in .950 silver (95% pure and higher than the .925 standard for "sterling" silver). The silversmith marks are for Henri Soufflot, Paris circa 1884-1910. An exquisite & rare set, don't miss them!
Excellent condition. Very faint surface scuffs possible but, as you can see, all pieces and even the box are superb. See pictures for all weights and measurements.
