Vintage Waffle Knurled Silver Monkey & Cat Fable Thimble * French * Circa 1970s

Description

Vintage Waffle Knurled Silver
Monkey & Cat
Fable Thimble
French * Circa 1970s
This classic French thimble represents one of Jean de La Fontaine's fables, "Bertrand & Raton" or the monkey and the cat.  It is the story of a monkey who talked his cat friend into stealing chestnuts out of the fire where they were roasting. Bertrand (the monkey) gobbled up the chestnuts and all poor Raton got was singed paws.
The thimble is stamped with the French Mercury head silver hallmark used for 800/1000 pure silver. It also has the maker's mark used by Roger Lenain. It's about an American size 9 (15.6 mm diameter opening) but narrows quickly and would fit smaller fingers. This thimble was originally made at the turn of the century and then reissued using the same dies in the 1970s. The condition is mint, crisp and in round with no holes, dents or even wear and it's gilded inside.
This thimble is shown on p. 78 of
More About Thimbles Vol. 2
by Magdalena & William Isbister (available in my eBay store).
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