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Absinthe and it Artifacts

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Author	Topic: Absinthe and it Artifacts
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 04-17-2005 06:31 PM [01-2289] The April 2005 issue of The Magazine Antiques has an interesting article by William P. Hood, Jr, entitled Absinthe and its Artifacts. A large number of absinthe spoon are shown whose sole purpose was to hold the sugar cube that hopefully would take away some of the bitterness of the drink. The ritual connected with this drink is remarkable. IP: Logged
Scott Martin Forum Master Posts: 11520 Registered: Apr 93	posted 04-17-2005 09:13 PM Have you seen this prior post (click here) (Whatizit?)? IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 04-18-2005 03:32 PM The comment by Patrick is worth repeating. "Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder" I did not see any spoons made out of solid silver - perhaps these spoons were used in public places and the owner did not want to risk loss of an expensive item. IP: Logged
salmoned Posts: 336 Registered: Jan 2005	posted 04-18-2005 09:39 PM Or perhaps Absinthe drinkers didn't care to cut into their beverage purchase funds... After all, it did become a mass market consumable. Also, I believe it was banned in France due to complaints from the wine industry, i.e., loss of market share. Now, it has returned with a lesser 'wormwood' content, indicating the ban had no scientific basis. [This message has been edited by salmoned (edited 04-18-2005).] IP: Logged
Kimo Posts: 1627 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 04-19-2005 04:16 PM Absinthe was mainly a drink in bars - which would not have used real silver. Absinthe glasses are also popular collectables - they have a marking or constriction on the lower part which showed the bar tender how much absinthe to pour into the glass. There are so many reproduction absinthe spoons (and glasses) around these days that I get the feeling that reproductions outnumber real antique ones by a factor of at least 100 to 1. IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 10-10-2012 11:22 AM Above is an absinthe spoon by Christofle. The mark is a rectangle within a rectangle and the inner rectangle is rotated 90 degrees from the outer one. This mark is listed as dates unknown by one web site and on another site the late 1800s. Any ideas as to date? IP: Logged
Kayvee Posts: 204 Registered: Oct 2004	posted 10-10-2012 05:59 PM Yes, this is a Christofle mystery mark. It does not appear in the appendix to the 1991 catalogue to the Christofle museum collection, nor in an article published in the French magazine Antiquités in 2006, nor did I see it illustrated at the Christofle museum in 2005. Nikogosyan mentions it in his January/February 2012 article in Silver Magazine, calling it the rhombus/box mark. That said, I think the time period it was used can be narrowed down. Here is my reasoning: the CC initials (for Charles Christofle) and the appearance of the mark are similar (with fewer stars and a bee rather than a rosette) to the Christofle mark used between 1862 and 1935. It is mainly the shape and outline of the mark that differs from the usual 1862-1935 mark. Nikogosyan also dates it to that period. After 1935 the company was reorganized and the new corporate entity was called Orfèvrerie Christofle. Initials in the post-1935 mark were OC rather than CC. The marque de fabricant or trademark (Christofle spelled out in a rectangular bar reserve) helps narrow the date of manufacture, as the trademark in a bar-shaped reserve came into use only at the turn of the last century (source: chart at the Christofle museum). Therefore I believe that the marks on your spoon were used between ca. 1900 and 1935. Given that it is an absinthe spoon, probably closer to 1900. Now I’ll go wa-a-a-y out on a limb and say that in my opinion, based on personal observation and gut feeling, objects with this mark were made at Christofle factories outside France. This doesn’t fully clarify your query, but might help to narrow the date your spoon was produced. IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 10-10-2012 08:43 PM Kayvee, Thank you for that detailed explanation and also to the reference to Prof. Nikogosyan. He has an interesting article on another web site about Christofle. The mark on the absinthe spoon has the CC, the scales, two stars above the scales, a rosette in the middle, and what appears to be a torso of child at the bottom. The CC is for Charles Christofle but the meaning of the rest eludes me and none of the sites that I have seen, seem interested in the meaning, if any, of these symbols. Do you have any opinion as to what they might mean? [This message has been edited by ahwt (edited 10-10-2012).] IP: Logged
Kayvee Posts: 204 Registered: Oct 2004	posted 10-10-2012 09:57 PM The symbols of Christofle have always been stars (in varying numbers), scales, a bee, sometimes a rosette, and two laurel branches. I don’t know what their symbols meant to the firm. What you see as a child’s torso is definitely a bee, a popular icon in France since Napoleonic times. The rosette is a symbol of the Legion of Honour. Basically the symbols represent the brand, like a Nike swoosh. IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 10-10-2012 11:04 PM Thanks again Kayvee. Your pointing out the parallel relationship of these symbols to the Nike swoosh is a good comparison. IP: Logged

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