🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Suspender clip? French buckle?

[OhioTrevor]

Can anyone help me here this was found in a turn of the century front lawn of a home in Maysville, KY with a dozen coins from late 1800s and early to mid 20th century. The bucke reads F&C ie Depose

 

[invent4hir]

Hi, looking at the mark on the first pic I think the marking is "L.F. & Cie". A quick search for that phrase only came up with pictures of a clay jar for Tivoli Mustard. The locations Bordeaux & Vienna are also appear.

 

[Red-Coat]

I don’t know the maker but, just for info, “Cie” is the French abbreviation for “compagnie” (company)… so it equates to “L. F. & Co”. Quite often when the second letter of a French company name given as initials is an “F” it stands for “frères” (brothers) so it could be the equivalent of “Lxxxx Bros. & Co”.

The word “déposé“ (the accents are dropped when it’s capitalised) means the design is registered, in a similar way to a patent protection. You’ll sometimes also see “marque déposée” on French items (meaning “registered trade mark”).