STRASBOURG, entre le premier tiers et le milieu du XVIIIème siècle Vermeil dessert or travel set (min. 800), engraved with a coat of arms, stamped with a ducal crown, set on a Pair de France mantle, including: - a fork and a spoon, filets and shells model. Goldsmith's hallmark: Johann Ludwig II IMLIN (1694-1764), received Master in 1720. H.: 17.4 and 17.8 cm. - a knife with a faceted, slightly crooked handle, decorated en suite and saber blade in vermeil. Length: 22.2 cm. = STRASBOURG Recognition Mark [13 fl. de lys] for 1736-1750. Possibly made circa 1745. Pieces repunched with Crab or Boar. Total weight: 197 g. Some wear and small scratches. In an antique case sheathed in brown leather gilded with fleur-de-lys, lined with red velvet (worn, warped, formerly damaged and partially glued). Shield quarterly 1 and 4 azure on a pale argent charged with three towers gules between four lion paws or issuant from the two flanks of the shield, which is BRANCAS, and 2 and 3 gules with a Toulouse cross, which is FORCALQUIER. These appear to be the arms of Louis (1714-1794), 5th Duke of Villars, then Duke of BRANCAS and Peer of France. Is this cutlery the remnant of a larger set? It appears to have been commissioned between 1736 and 1746, as the latter is the date of the Duc de Villars' reception into the Order of the Golden Fleece, a decoration that does not appear on this coat of arms. "Finally, it is very likely that this cover was made precisely in April 1745, as the Duc de Villars was present at the battle of Pfaffenhofen, during the War of the Austrian Succession. The latter town (north of Munich) is one hundred kilometers to the east, on the way to Strasbourg, the town of the silversmith of the said travel cutlery (order on the outward journey, collection on the return)". The heraldic study and more precise dating of this cover are the work of Mr. Dominique de Lastours, historian, whom we thank.