Here is a rare French chatelaine set consisting of 6 pieces – rare in that all five attachments are decorated in the mistletoe motif. These are connected by chains to an ornate shell type designed Art Nouveau chatelaine clip. All the pieces are antique French sterling silver EXCEPT for the dance card / aide memoire which is also a French antique but is silver plated. All pieces but the dance card are marked / stamped. The pill box is by Charles Murat who worked in Paris in the late 1800s. NO MONOGRAMS on any of the pieces. All of the French pieces in the set date to the turn of the century / early 1900s Art Nouveau era. The set contains the chatelaine clip with attached chain that leads down to an ornate bracket from which five additional chains extend with spring loaded clasps that allow you to clip the chatelaine attachments on and off. The pieces attached are. Sterling Charles Murat pill or powder box. Sterling needle or toothpick case. Sterling locket, original photos still included as found. Silverplate dance card / aide memoire with mistletoe on the cover and chrysanthemum flowers on the back cover. I also have listed some additional mistletoe and holly chatelaine pieces from the same era and from France, so please check out my other listings! The piece is 63 grams of solid silver weight, this is the weight of the solid silver items as I had removed the dance card for the measurement since it is plated. The chatelaine clip measures 3 inches. The chain is 15 inches in length from the top of the clip to the end of the pencil (so this is the longest measurement). The pencil and needle case are 3 inches in length. The pill or powder box is 2 inches in diameter. The locket is 1 inch from the top of the attached ring to the bottom. The booklet is about 3 inches by 2 inches. Hallmarks all over the set. The clip is marked in several places with the Boars head mark for French small solid silver items. It is marked on the back of the clip, on the two loops that connect the clip to the chain, and also on the two loops that connect the chain to the bracket that holds the 5 extension chains. Then each one of the five spring loaded clasps is also stamped. The needle case is stamped with the boars head mark on the bottom closest to the lid. The slide pencil is stamped with the boars head mark on the rim where the pencil is extended. The locket is marked with the boars head mark on the loop. The pill box is marked on the inside rim of the lid with the Murat makers mark and twice with the French crab mark for small silver items. The dance card is unmarked being silver plated. You can tell the chain is a nice quality piece because the loops are made with the age appropriate, thick links that were soldered so they appear smooth, like one continuous piece of metal. Instead of showing a seam or crack in the link that can bend open causing the chain to break. This is the quality type of craftsmanship done by high end markers of the time. Please note this set is in estate condition. They all have various signs of use and wear with some stubborn tarnish, surface scratching, and nicks from use and polish over the years. The needle case has one or two shallow pin dings. The lid still fits snugly. The locket has surface wear that appears like scuffs and a few utensil type nicks to the smooth back. The pill / powder box has maybe three or so shallow indentations around the outside smooth rim along with a few pinhead dings / nicks. It has a goldwash interior and snaps open and closed perfectly. The slide pencil has a shallow pinhead ding to one smooth side but is otherwise perfectly straight and the pencil which has a good amount remaining, slides up and down smoothly. The dance card / notebook has some stubborn tarnish and a few areas of plate loss where the warmer underlying metal comes through mostly on the back in one area of the chrysanthemum leaves by the cartouche. I also see a spot on that cartouche. No monogram on it. The pencil paint has mostly chipped from the wood sliding in and out of the holder. All the pages are still there with writing on the first few pages. The chain looks great and the chatelaine clip has held its shape perfectly with just a few areas of stubborn tarnish mostly on the back. Most is the expected age appropriate surface wear with some of the nicks and scratches made more evident in the smooth areas because of the mirrored finish there. The mistletoe designs themselves all look beautiful and without damage. But please see photos closely and Please note this set is not in mint condition. I have many more pieces of sterling flatware listed so please see my other auctions and create a set! I dearly love, collect, use and sell antique American sterling silver flatware and housewares including Tiffany and Co. Gorham, Durgin, Shiebler and more! I would be delighted if you’d follow me in my new store. Thanks for stopping by! Georg Jensen, the father of Scandinavian Silver, on the occasion of his 60th birthday remarked, Silver is the best material we have. The character of silver is satisfactorily obstinate, it has to be conquered and then it has the wonderful moonlight luster. [It] can seem like twilight, or, when it dews over, like ground mist rising. I COULDN’T AGREE MORE. The item “6 pc SET Sterling Silver Mistletoe Chatelaine Pill Box Pencil Locket XMAS Murat” is in sale since Thursday, June 6, 2019. This item is in the category “Antiques\Silver\Non-U.S. Silver\France”. The seller is “callmemouse” and is located in Orange, California. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Colombia, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, Viet nam, Uruguay.
- Brand: Murat and others
- Age: 1900-1940
- Type: Chatelaine Set
- Style: Art Nouveau
- Pattern: Mistletoe
- Composition: Sterling Silver