| Collecting Absinthe Antiques III |
| The "Toulouse Lautrec" Spoons |
| The most expensive, but also the most controversial of all absinthe spoons are the so-called "Toulouse Lautrec" spoons - purportedly designed and used by the legendary artist himself. Their exact status is the subject of heated debate amongst absinthiana collectors. |
Some thoughts on the “Toulouse Lautrec” spoons:
12 identical spoons, of a strikingly unique art nouveau design and with Toulouse Lautrec’s artistic monogram cut into the tip, were
discovered over a decade ago, reportedly by a retired colonel who found them together with a signed Toulouse Lautrec lithograph.
The highly knowledgeable collector through whose hands the 12 spoons first passed has an impeccable reputation.
The spoons have been the subject of much discussion and controversy amongst absinthiana collectors.- are they Toulouse
Lautrec’s personal absinthe spoons, designed and monogrammed by the legendary artist and absintheur himself - in which case
they are art-historical artifacts of profound importance - or are they something else, perhaps even fakes made specifically to
deceive gullible collectors?
Having had the opportunity to study two of the spoons in detail under a jeweler’s loupe, and having examined photographs of
several others, I believe the truth lies somewhere in between these two extremes.
There are two broad factors that contribute to the debate over the Toulouse Lautrec spoons:
1. Firstly, the context: That Toulouse Lautrec, an relatively wealthy aristocrat, would commission his own absinthe spoons out of
plated brass, rather than silver, and then mark them with his artistic monogram, rather than his family coat of arms, seems a little
implausible. He was famous by the time of his death, and world famous shortly afterwards. Many of his personal possessions
were preserved, including the famous "drinking" cane at the Musée Toulouse Lautrec in Albi. None are marked with his monogram.
The design of the spoon, for what it’s worth, isn’t particularly characteristic of Lautrec’s work - the sinuous art nouveau lattice at the
base of the bowl seems rather to suggest Mucha or Privat-Livemont.
Overall, some collectors feel the spoons are "too good to be true" - like finding the razor that Van Gogh used to cut off his ear.
2. Secondly, the physical evidence: All the spoons seem to have entirely missing plating around the monogram, on both sides of
the spoon. This is an unusual pattern of wear in an absinthe spoon, and can't be easily explained just by normal usage. Most
absinthe spoons show wear at the tip of the handle, on the raised notch that gripped the glass, and sometimes on the underside
of the spoon bowl itself. If there's wear on the tip, it's only at the extreme end where it would touch the glass, not usually halfway
down the spoon bowl.
The more likely explanation for the missing plating, which completely surrounds the monogram, is that the monogram itself was
individually cut into the spoons after they had been plated - this would inevitably weaken the silver-plate in this area. Examining the
monograms closely under a loupe, it’s easy to see that each one is slightly different, and that they show numerous tiny deviations
where the cutter made an error, and then corrected himself.
For me this is a strong indication that the spoons weren’t actually designed by and manufactured specifically for Toulouse Lautrec.
If Lautrec had designed the spoons himself, the monogram would surely have been an integral molded part of the design (or at
very least been cut in prior to plating).
It's possible of course that Lautrec bought a dozen "off the shelf " spoons, and then, rather than have the handles engraved, as
was customary, had his artistic monogram hand cut (a difficult and laborious process) into each one.
If the spoons were "off the shelf ", where are the others without the monogram? One might expect a striking design like this to have
had a higher than average survival rate, yet none have been found (this of course in itself doesn't necessarily prove anything: other
exceptional designs - the 1900 “Tour Eiffel” and the “Garnison Nancy” come to mind - are also only known in tiny quantities).
Unlike the vast majority of absinthe spoons, the Lautrec spoons are molded, an indication of small scale manufacture.
These arguments, taken together, lead me to believe that the spoons were, on a balance of probabilities, likely not in fact
specifically designed by and made for Toulouse Lautrec.
What exactly is their likely status then?
There are 3 possible explanations:
1. The spoons are entirely deliberate fakes, made by an artistically talented craftsman, possibly using a copied design from an art
nouveau sourcebook. This is not in my opinion a realistic possibility - the design is artistically unusually distinguished, and the
spoons "in hand" have every appearance of age.
2. They were tribute or souvenir items, made perhaps for one of the cabarets he frequented, in the first decade or so after
Toulouse Lautrec's death in 1901. Remember that his fame literally exploded in the years immediately after his death. (Although
this explanation still doesn't really explain why the monogram was cut in later, rather than integrated into the design in the first
place.)
3. They are genuine absinthe spoons, which, somewhere along the way, were "enhanced" with the Toulouse Lautrec monogram.
I believe on balance that this is the most likely explanation: a remarkable, rare and fascinating set of spoons "improved" in an
attempt to enhance their value.
None of these three alternatives is a perfect fit with the observed evidence, which is sometimes contradictory. Although I feel, that
on a balance of probabilities #3 above is by far the most likely explanation, unless more similar spoons, or some significant
supporting documentation is found – both unlikely at this stage – the exact status of the Lautrec spoons is likely to remain a matter
of dispute for the foreseeable future.
12 identical spoons, of a strikingly unique art nouveau design and with Toulouse Lautrec’s artistic monogram cut into the tip, were
discovered over a decade ago, reportedly by a retired colonel who found them together with a signed Toulouse Lautrec lithograph.
The highly knowledgeable collector through whose hands the 12 spoons first passed has an impeccable reputation.
The spoons have been the subject of much discussion and controversy amongst absinthiana collectors.- are they Toulouse
Lautrec’s personal absinthe spoons, designed and monogrammed by the legendary artist and absintheur himself - in which case
they are art-historical artifacts of profound importance - or are they something else, perhaps even fakes made specifically to
deceive gullible collectors?
Having had the opportunity to study two of the spoons in detail under a jeweler’s loupe, and having examined photographs of
several others, I believe the truth lies somewhere in between these two extremes.
There are two broad factors that contribute to the debate over the Toulouse Lautrec spoons:
1. Firstly, the context: That Toulouse Lautrec, an relatively wealthy aristocrat, would commission his own absinthe spoons out of
plated brass, rather than silver, and then mark them with his artistic monogram, rather than his family coat of arms, seems a little
implausible. He was famous by the time of his death, and world famous shortly afterwards. Many of his personal possessions
were preserved, including the famous "drinking" cane at the Musée Toulouse Lautrec in Albi. None are marked with his monogram.
The design of the spoon, for what it’s worth, isn’t particularly characteristic of Lautrec’s work - the sinuous art nouveau lattice at the
base of the bowl seems rather to suggest Mucha or Privat-Livemont.
Overall, some collectors feel the spoons are "too good to be true" - like finding the razor that Van Gogh used to cut off his ear.
2. Secondly, the physical evidence: All the spoons seem to have entirely missing plating around the monogram, on both sides of
the spoon. This is an unusual pattern of wear in an absinthe spoon, and can't be easily explained just by normal usage. Most
absinthe spoons show wear at the tip of the handle, on the raised notch that gripped the glass, and sometimes on the underside
of the spoon bowl itself. If there's wear on the tip, it's only at the extreme end where it would touch the glass, not usually halfway
down the spoon bowl.
The more likely explanation for the missing plating, which completely surrounds the monogram, is that the monogram itself was
individually cut into the spoons after they had been plated - this would inevitably weaken the silver-plate in this area. Examining the
monograms closely under a loupe, it’s easy to see that each one is slightly different, and that they show numerous tiny deviations
where the cutter made an error, and then corrected himself.
For me this is a strong indication that the spoons weren’t actually designed by and manufactured specifically for Toulouse Lautrec.
If Lautrec had designed the spoons himself, the monogram would surely have been an integral molded part of the design (or at
very least been cut in prior to plating).
It's possible of course that Lautrec bought a dozen "off the shelf " spoons, and then, rather than have the handles engraved, as
was customary, had his artistic monogram hand cut (a difficult and laborious process) into each one.
If the spoons were "off the shelf ", where are the others without the monogram? One might expect a striking design like this to have
had a higher than average survival rate, yet none have been found (this of course in itself doesn't necessarily prove anything: other
exceptional designs - the 1900 “Tour Eiffel” and the “Garnison Nancy” come to mind - are also only known in tiny quantities).
Unlike the vast majority of absinthe spoons, the Lautrec spoons are molded, an indication of small scale manufacture.
These arguments, taken together, lead me to believe that the spoons were, on a balance of probabilities, likely not in fact
specifically designed by and made for Toulouse Lautrec.
What exactly is their likely status then?
There are 3 possible explanations:
1. The spoons are entirely deliberate fakes, made by an artistically talented craftsman, possibly using a copied design from an art
nouveau sourcebook. This is not in my opinion a realistic possibility - the design is artistically unusually distinguished, and the
spoons "in hand" have every appearance of age.
2. They were tribute or souvenir items, made perhaps for one of the cabarets he frequented, in the first decade or so after
Toulouse Lautrec's death in 1901. Remember that his fame literally exploded in the years immediately after his death. (Although
this explanation still doesn't really explain why the monogram was cut in later, rather than integrated into the design in the first
place.)
3. They are genuine absinthe spoons, which, somewhere along the way, were "enhanced" with the Toulouse Lautrec monogram.
I believe on balance that this is the most likely explanation: a remarkable, rare and fascinating set of spoons "improved" in an
attempt to enhance their value.
None of these three alternatives is a perfect fit with the observed evidence, which is sometimes contradictory. Although I feel, that
on a balance of probabilities #3 above is by far the most likely explanation, unless more similar spoons, or some significant
supporting documentation is found – both unlikely at this stage – the exact status of the Lautrec spoons is likely to remain a matter
of dispute for the foreseeable future.
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