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Late 19th and early 20th century French silver pictorial thimbles – a visual guide. Beginning at the end of the 19th century a small group of Parisian silversmiths, mainly living in the 3rd Arrondissment began to produce two part Art Nouveau thimbles with die milled images of animals, flowers, birds and other historic and interesting events. In order to vary the thimble size the end of the cylinder was cut of the appropriate amount so that part of the pattern or image is usually missing from the smaller sized thimbles. The thimbles had waffle dimpling and the design usually extended upwards into the dimpling. Simple waffle dimpled tops were soldered to the completed cylinder. Seven thimbles included in the list did have circular dimpling, however, but were made in the same way (‘Mother and Daughter’, ‘the Sewing Lesson’, 'Girls spinning', 'Seagull with boat', 'Arches and roses' and the two Royal Wedding thimbles) and some thimbles with waffle dimpling have circular dimpled tops.
In 2003 Frank (1) described some of these thimbles in a TCI Booklet but it was not until 2012 that Painsonneau (2) wrote what must be and will remain the authoritative work on this subject. The book ‘Les Prestigieux Dés à coudre Français’ is written in French and so far, sadly, there has been no English translation. Many of the original thimbles were made in silver, silver with gold plating and solid gold. The dies used were the same. In the 1970s Roger Lenain (Orfèvrerie Lenain) re-struck many of the Lorillon/Feau/Levy dies and marked the re-strikes with his own mark which he had adopted from Lenain et Cie (3). These re- strikes were sold in both the USA and France. Thimbles for export were marked with the Lenain mark, the head of Mercury, ‘FRANCE’ and a size number. Some of the 1970s re-issues were assayed and sold in France and were thus marked with a crab and the maker’s mark only.
More recently there is some suspicion that some of the thimbles have been re-struck again (see below). In the tables below there will be a picture of the thimble, its French name, the translation and the maker and year of manufacture if known.
1. Fontaine Fable thimbles Thimble French name (2) English name Maker /
engraver Date made
Le Corbeau et le Renard
The crow and the fox
PL/JL 1910 and 1970
Le Loup et l’Agneau
The wolf and the lamb
RL/PL
Sem G
1910 and 1970
Le Renard et la Cigogne
The fox and the stork
AF/ RL
Sem G
1900 and 1970
Le Loup devenu Berger
The wolf and shepherd
AF/RL/PL
Sem G
1895 and 1970
Le Loup de la Cigogne
The wolf and the stork
JL 1910 and 1970
Le Lièvre et la Tortue
The hare and the turtle
PL 1915 and 1970
La Laitière et le pot à lait
The milkmaid and the pot of milk
RL
Sem G
1913 and 1970
Les deux Pigeons*
The two pigeons AF/RL
Sem G
1900 and 1970
Bertrand et Raton (Le Singe et le Chat)
Bertrand and Raton (The monkey and the cat)
RL/PL
Sem G
1913 and 1970
2. Florian fable thimble
Le Singe qui montre la lanterne magique
The monkey and the magic lantern
JL 1910 and 1970
3. Perrault story thimbles
Le Petite Chaperon Rouge
Little Red Riding Hood
JL 1910
Le Chat botté* Puss in Boots ? 1910 and 1970
Le petit Poucet* Tom Thumb ? 1910 and 1970
4. Scenes of life
Les Modes Sewing girls JD
FC Vernon
1900
Les Glaneuses The harvesters PL
F Lasserre
1920
Les Vendangeurs The wine makers ?
F Lasserre
1920
Deux Fileuses au Rouet
The spinning girls JL
F Lasserre
1910
La Marchand de Fleurs
The flower merchant
JL 1910 and 1970
Le Miroir The Mirror (Vain Beauty)
JL 1910 and 1970
La Jeune fille au crochet
The young girl crocheting. (Golden Hands)
JL
1910 and 1970
Les filles filant Girls spinning ?
P.Lenoir
1915
Traveaux d’aiguilles
Needlework JL
F Lasserre
1910
Ronde Fleurie (La Danse des Muses)
Floral round dance (The dance of the Muses)
RL
Sem G
1915 and 1970
Ronde autour d’un arbre
Dancing round a tree
JL
F Lasserre
1920
La leçon de couture
The sewing lesson JL 1900
La mère et la fille*
The Mother and Daughter
? ? and 1970
5. Birds
Le Héron et l’iris The Heron and the Iris
LC 1920 and 1970
Trois oiseaus sur une branche
Three birds on a branch
JL
F Lasserre
1910
Le Vol d’hirondelles
Flight of swallows PL 1920 and 1970
Mouette avec le bateau
Seagull with boat ? 1920
Les Plumes The Feathers LC 1920
Deux oiseaus avec roses
Two birds with roses
? 1910
6. Commemorative thimbles
La Bataille de la Somme
Battle of the Somme
JL
F Lasserre
1916
Le dé de l’armistice 1918
The armistice thimble
JL
F Lasserre
1919
Jeanne d’Arc entendant des voix*
Joan of Arc listening to voices (Divine Revelation)
RL
Sem G
1920 and 1970
Jeanne d’Arc gardant ses moutons
Joan of Arc tending her sheep (Inspired Shepherdess)
RL/JL
Sem G
1920 and 1970
Le dé à coudre mariage - Reine Wilhelmina, 1901
The Queen Wilhelmina wedding thimble
AF 1901 and 1970
Le mariage royal Espagnol
The Spanish Royal Wedding
? 1906 and 1970
Statue de la liberté
The Statue of Liberty
LL 1970
7. Flowers
Chrysanthème avec ruban
Chrysanthemum with ribbon
JL 1910
Chèvrefeuille Honeysuckle RL
Sem G
1915
Oeillets Carnations RL
Sem G
1913
Capucines Nasturtiums
RL 1913
Platane Plane tree fruit JL 1910
Fraisier Strawberries JL 1910
Marguerite Marguerite
LC 1920
Chrysanthème Pyrethium JL 1920
Gui Mistletoe JL 1910 and ? 1970
Volubilis Morning glory
JL 1910
Epis de Blé Ears of wheat LC 1915
Le Lierre The Ivy JL 1910
Marronnier d’Inde
Horse Chestnut JL 1910
Roses sauvages Wild rose bough JL 1910 and 1970
Les Roses The Roses This thimble may have been made by Gebrüder Gabler GmbH, Schorndorf, Germany, and is not a French thimble at all.
?
Gebrüder Gabler GmbH
1910
La Pensée The Pansy JL 1910
Tulipe Tulip LC 1920 and 1970
Les Houx The Holly LC 1920 and ?1970
Ecussion de feuilles
Pattern of leaves LC 1920
Palme stylisée Stylised palm LC 1920
8. Baskets and garlands
Gerbe des roses Gerbe des fleurs
Bunch of roses Bunch of flowers
AF
RL
1900
Bouquet de fleurs
Bouquet of flowers ? 1920
Fleurs liées en bouquet
Flowers tied in a bouquet
? 1920
Vasques de fleurs
Bowles of flowers
LC 1920
Panier de fleurs Basket of flowers ? 1920
Les guirlandes de fleurs et feuilles
Garlands of flowers and leaves
? 1910
Bouquets de fleurs en guirlande
Bunches of flowers in garlands
LC 1920
Arcades de fleurs et Noeud
Arches of flowers with knot
JL 1900
Arcades et Roses Arches and roses HL 1920
Roses et géométrie
Geometric roses
HL 1920
Cornes d’abondance de roses
Cornucopia of roses
? 1920
Panier de fleurs avec des serpents
Basket of flowers with snakes
? 1920
9. Religious thimbles
Notre Dame de Lourdes
Our lady of Lourdes ? 1900
Notre Dame de Lourdes
Our lady of Lourdes ? 1920
Notre Dame de Lourdes
Our lady of Lourdes ? 1920
La serviteur de dieu frere Mutien Marie
The Servant of God, brother Mutien Marie
? 1977
Maker’s abbreviations: AF Alfred Féau HL Henri Lambin JD Julian Duval JL J Lévy JQ Janvier Quercia LC Leon Chalin LF Roger Lenain PL Plumont Lorillon RL Rene Lorillon Dated listed approximate date of manufacture and re-issue. For more information about French thimble makers and engravers of the late 19th and early 20th century see ‘Late Nineteenth and early twentieth century French silver thimble master’s marks’ (3). Not all pictures are from the original issues, those images marked with an * are reissues. Some of the Roger Lenain re-issues were made with smooth sides instead of waffle dimpling (Mother and Daughter, Spanish Royal Wedding and Queen Wilhelmina Wedding thimble
). Recently we noticed a number of ‘re-issues’ which were heavily ‘antiqued’ (below right) in comparison with the original re-issues on sale on Ebay. It proved very difficult to remove the ‘antiquing’ and we were wondering whether there has been another more recent re-issue from the old dies? Some of the ‘antiqued’ ones have stars on the top suggesting that a slightly different die was used for the top dimpling.
The top and side soldering may be less precise in the ‘antiqued re-issues’.
References 1. Frank B. Thimbles of France with waffled knurling. Thimble Collectors International. USA. 2003. 2. Painsonneau. M. Les Prestigieux Dés à coudre Français. The BookEdition 2012. www.thebookedition.com. 3. Isbister, Isbister W. Late Nineteenth and early twentieth century French silver thimble master’s marks. Magdalena and William Isbister, Moosbach, 2007. We should like to thank Carolyn Meacham, Michel Painsonneau, Bridget McConnel, Irene Schwall and Rund um den Fingerhut, for permission to use some of their images over the years.
