Jean Puiforcat silver cup

[tamrock]

Lately silver is getting hard to score in the thrift stores and I'm thinking the employees have been informed what to keep an eye out for. All the little sterling pieces of jewelry that were priced at no more that 8.99 to 12.99 and some times less are now with sticker prices of 24.99 to 59.99 and people are buying at those prices. I can find better prices at the pawn shops then that on sterling jewelry, as they go more by weight. Anyway this piece of silver slipped by today. It's marked Jean Puiforcat and PA*** which maybe was meant to be PARIS. Jean Puiforcat is well known in France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Puiforcat I'm not sure of the purity though by the tiny French touch mark, but I got a good shot of it... The makers mark is an EP, which I hope is for Elysée Puiforcat and not electo-plate.

 

[pepperj]

Lately silver is getting hard to score in the thrift stores and I'm thinking the employees have been informed what to keep an eye out for. All the little sterling pieces of jewelry that were priced at no more that 8.99 to 12.99 and some times less are now with sticker prices of 24.99 to 59.99 and people are buying at those prices. I can find better prices at the pawn shops then that on sterling jewelry, as they go more by weight. Anyway this piece of silver slipped by today. It's marked Jean Puiforcat and PA*** which maybe was meant to be PARIS. Jean Puiforcat is well known in France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Puiforcat I'm not sure of the purity though by the tiny French touch mark, but I got a good shot of it... The makers mark is an EP, which I hope is for Elysée Puiforcat and not electo-plate.

Now that's a great score.
$540?

 

[tamrock]

Now that's a great score.
$540?

I believe now the purity mark is that of 95% pure silver. If so this 270 grams would yield pretty close to 8.25 Troy ounces of pure silver and with the prices they are now it would have a spot value of like $780.

 

[Red-Coat]

Great find, and it’s not silver plate. That Minerve head was the standard French mark for larger non-jewellery items in .950 silver (ie better than sterling) between 1838-1973. The ‘E|P’ mark is indeed the maker mark and not for electro-plate. It’s not for ‘Elysée Puiforcat’ though. It’s for Emile Puiforcat, the original founder of the company with his two cousins in 1820. They stayed with that mark long after Emile’s death. The ‘PA’ mark does read ‘PARIS’ in full, centre-aligned below ‘JEAN PUIFORCAT’, but it’s just a weak stamp. Note that the ‘ORC’ letters above are also weak impressions.

 

[pepperj]

I believe now the purity mark is that of 95% pure silver. If so this 270 grams would yield pretty close to 8.25 Troy ounces of pure silver and with the prices they are now it would have a spot value of like $780.

Yes that would be spot and the selling price will be somewhat lower I'm afraid. Just reworked that and the sell would be $610.02 or $2.25 a gram.

 

[xr7ator]

Excellent find Grant!

 

[tamrock]

Again, thank you RC for your wealth of knowledge. Indeed, it is a great find. Lucky for me it had no other commonly used indicators that would let the people who sort through the merchandise know this might be something rather valuable. I will be going back tonight as things like this hitting the shelfs can be a sign that high end merchandise is filtering through.

Yes that would be spot and the selling price will be somewhat lower I'm afraid. Just reworked that and the sell would be $610.02 or $2.25 a gram.

Might have a premium value because of who made it. Some of the asking prices on Puiforcat pieces are really up there. Indeed $610 for something I paid under $10 for I'll take any day.

 

[ARC]

I once had an item by this maker years ago and agree with above...
a small sugar cube tong if i remember correctly.
It too was marked with the EP mark. was Emile as well.

 

[pepperj]

Never heard of this maker actually so i looked at different sale sites and it commands a nice premium for the name.
Though I find it kind of strange that one sales site actually listed it as "Silver Plate" for the same maker's mark.( I'm wondering if the distinction is the maker's name of just Puiforcat France)
All the other items viewed basically stated silver or gave the gram weight.

 

[Red-Coat]

Never heard of this maker actually so i looked at different sale sites and it commands a nice premium for the name.
Though I find it kind of strange that one sales site actually listed it as "Silver Plate" for the same maker's mark.( I'm wondering if the distinction is the maker's name of just Puiforcat France)
All the other items viewed basically stated silver or gave the gram weight.

Puiforcat produce both silver and high quality silver plate, using their 'E|P' maker mark on both. Silver plate however does not carry the 'Minerve casquée' mark (helmeted Minerva) nor any of the other official marks France has used to designate silver.

 

[tamrock]

Never heard of this maker actually so i looked at different sale sites and it commands a nice premium for the name.
Though I find it kind of strange that one sales site actually listed it as "Silver Plate" for the same maker's mark.( I'm wondering if the distinction is the maker's name of just Puiforcat France)
All the other items viewed basically stated silver or gave the gram weight.

View attachment 2241735

They made silver plate and solid silver items over the years. I did see a sold solid silver small Puiforcat egg cup they called it. Looked more like a shot glass to me. Anyway they listed what it weighed and it came out to have sold for $3.60 a gram. So if that same formula applied to my cup, it would be worth over $970. But I'm not gonna expect getting anything like that. As long as I'm buying for less and selling for more, I'm happy.

 

[pepperj]

Puiforcat produce both silver and high quality silver plate, using their 'E|P' maker mark on both. Silver plate however does not carry the 'Minerve casquée' mark (helmeted Minerva) nor any of the other official marks France has used to designate silver.

Thanks for the clarification, that makes perfect sense now.

 

[pepperj]

They made silver plate and solid silver items over the years. I did see a sold solid silver small Puiforcat egg cup they called it. Looked more like a shot glass to me. Anyway they listed what it weighed and it came out to have sold for $3.60 a gram. So if that same formula applied to my cup, it would be worth over $970. But I'm not gonna expect getting anything like that. As long as I'm buying for less and selling for more, I'm happy.

A broker told me this 30 yrs ago "It's hard to loose money when you're making a profit"
Basically he was saying stick to a buy/sell plan instead of a buy/hold/sell plan.
He wasn't wrong nor was the idea right if a person has a set plan

Buy low sell high is another one that one can't be hurt.

Though the long sell is more profitable in many ways, but if little is invested and there's no need to turn over capital then it's the better choice.

I was in an antique store awhile back, the inventory alone must be in the 7 digits.
I mentioned some items that I probably will send in for melt "Oh gee I hope not".
That's the thing the scrap value is going to out weigh the listing price for an item.

Some online "High End Auction" sites are demanding a 28% buyer's premium then the taxes on top of that if there is any.
I'm sure they're getting a % on the consignment end as well.

 

[tamrock]

Never heard of this maker actually so i looked at different sale sites and it commands a nice premium for the name.
Though I find it kind of strange that one sales site actually listed it as "Silver Plate" for the same maker's mark.( I'm wondering if the distinction is the maker's name of just Puiforcat France)
All the other items viewed basically stated silver or gave the gram weight.

View attachment 2241735

I was somewhat familiar with Puiforcat from somewhere. When I saw the name on the bottom it then got my attention. Much of their works have a modernist design.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Great find !

 

[finderzzs]

Lately silver is getting hard to score in the thrift stores and I'm thinking the employees have been informed what to keep an eye out for. All the little sterling pieces of jewelry that were priced at no more that 8.99 to 12.99 and some times less are now with sticker prices of 24.99 to 59.99 and people are buying at those prices. I can find better prices at the pawn shops then that on sterling jewelry, as they go more by weight. Anyway this piece of silver slipped by today. It's marked Jean Puiforcat and PA*** which maybe was meant to be PARIS. Jean Puiforcat is well known in France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Puiforcat I'm not sure of the purity though by the tiny French touch mark, but I got a good shot of it... The makers mark is an EP, which I hope is for Elysée Puiforcat and not electo-plate.

I'm pretty sure the EP is for Extra Plate, making it plated. But because of this maker it is probably worth around $800-$900. Super find.

 

[Red-Coat]

I'm pretty sure the EP is for Extra Plate, making it plated. But because of this maker it is probably worth around $800-$900. Super find.

I'm 100% sure that the ‘E|P’ mark is for Emile Puiforcat and the 'Minerve casquée' mark indicates it to be .950 silver.

 

[tamrock]

I'm pretty sure the EP is for Extra Plate, making it plated. But because of this maker it is probably worth around $800-$900. Super find.

I'm more sure about you being incorrect that its extra silver plated. This piece is .950/1000 solid silver alloy, based on the French silver hallmarks on the upper and lower part of the piece. The EP mark is that of the marker of the piece, as stated by Red Coat on a previous post.

 

[tamrock]

I'm 100% sure that the ‘E|P’ mark is for Emile Puiforcat and the 'Minerve casquée' mark indicates it to be .950 silver.

Oh you're already on it. I'm thinking he only read my original post.

 

[CladSpends2]

I'm more sure about you being incorrect that its extra silver plated. This piece is .950/1000 solid silver alloy, based on the French silver hallmarks on the upper and lower part of the piece. The EP mark is that of the marker of the piece, as stated by Red Coat on a previous post.

I would trust Red-Coat over my own lying eyes when it comes to this subject.