BY FRÈRES SOUCHAY, MARKED, HANAU, CIRCA 1780, STRUCK WITH THE HANAU TOWN MARK FOR 19 CARAT GOLD, CROWNED LETTER K RESEMBLING THE PARISIAN DATE LETTER 1773/1774 AND A MARK RESEMBLING THE PARISIAN CHARGE MARK FOR 1768-1774

The brothers Esay (1723-1791) and Marc André Souchay (1730-1811) came from one of Hanau's Huguenot families of bijouteries, French speaking Huguenot jewellers who had been attracted to Hanau by the privileges and financial incentives extended by Prince Regent William, later Landgrave William VIII, to anyone who was willing to set up in business in Hanau. By the early 1770s Etienne Flamant, an expert guillocheur originally from Geneva, signed a contract with the leading Hanau goldsmiths for them to supply him with around 385 to 430 gold boxes for decoration every year. Les Frères Souchay agreed to supply him with 120 boxes, which gives some indication of the scale of gold box production in Hanau at this time.