Magnificent and impossibly rare set of 6 hand painted royal armorial crests and heavy French silver encrusted dinner or place plates. I am certain they have been created for some very special event, and while there must be others floating out there somewhere, I've never seen any created like this, and can't find any examples of same or similar. The silver encrustation is heavy, highlighted in gold accents, and I can find the French diamond poincon on back, a silversmith's registered signature mark, but no Minerve mark, which indicates the silver may be a lower purity than .800/1000 (Minerve #2) or .950/1000 pure silver (Minerve #1). I tested, and it did not rise to .800, so perhaps the encrustation is nickel silver, instead. Again, not just a border, but thick overlay encrustation. Someone suggested to me Puiforcat made some similar heavy silver encrusted plates, but I also have not found examples of those. There is not a maker mark on back of any plate. Each of the crown topped and royal family armorial crests are different, and each hand painted. Stunning beauty! They are 9.5" diameter and 1.5" in depth, a slight ridge design to the porcelain (see photos).
Very good to excellent condition throughout. The silver is superb and so are the hand painted crests at center of each. Please, if you buy this set, do not serve food on them. Use them at table, sure, but lift them and replace with first course on a different plate. They seem to be very rare. No chips, no cracks, 1 painted crest has a tiny bit of gold lost and there are some surface abrasions so look them over. I was told there is a tiny bit of silver missing on 1 plate, but I honestly have not found it yet so it must be small. Do you see anything? Just a mention, in case. Fabulous for cabinet display.
