An Art Deco silver plated Alfenide fruit bowl by Luc Lanel for Christofle c.1930. (Model Ripple). The round circular shape on a piedouche base is surmounted by four rings. There is an Alfenide mark and goldsmiths’ hallmarks  (rider and goat’s head). Some wear commensurate with age and use. Alfenide is a silver-free metallic alloy that imitates silver, discovered in 1850 by the Halphen brothers, 19th-century French chemists and goldsmiths.  Alfenide has the advantage of being durable and resistant to corrosion and was an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, which was perfect as a base metal due to its silvery shine, in contrast to the brass and copper which has a yellow-red colour.

Background: In 1850, Charles Halphen founded his jeweler’s workshop in Paris. The “Alfenide metal” was used as the base for the silver-plated items of this factory. The Parisian jeweler and silverware manufacturer – Christofle – entered into a collaboration with Halphen, in which Christofle makes the designs, Halphen created the pieces from the Alfenide, and these were then silver plated by Christofle and marketed under the name Alfenide. This gave Christofle the opportunity to address a broader market segment. After Halphen’s death, his widow took over. In 1888, Christofle finally took over the factory and continued to produce cutlery under the Alfenide line until around the Second World War.