BY GABRIEL-RAOUL MOREL (FL. 1797-1832), MARKED, PARIS, CIRCA 1814, STAMPED 106, WITH THE PARISIAN THIRD STANDARD MARK AND GUARANTEE MARK FOR GOLD 1809-1819 AND THE PARISIAN POST-REVOLUTIONARY UNOFFICIAL STANDARD MARK FOR 18 CARAT GOLD

The Gilbert Collection, London, contains six gold boxes by Gabriel-Raoul Morel (illustrated in Truman, op. cit., no. 12, and in C. Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Los Angeles, 1991, nos. 40, 44, 45, 46 and 47). Together with Vachette and Fossin, Gabriel-Raoul Morel, who struck his mark as early as 1797, may be considered as one of the most important French gold boxes makers of the first half of the 19th Century.
Ville de Paris was a large three-decker French ship of the line that became famous as the flagship of the Comte de Grasse during the American Revolutionary War. A total of four ships of the French Navy have borne the name Ville de Paris, in honour of the city of Paris.