Josef Fraget pair of bronze candlesticks, Warsaw.10.5 inches high.Marked Fraget on bottom.Circa 1880.
Height: 10.5"

(From Ascasonline.org):WARSAW SILVER PLATE COMPANIES: I. JOSEPH FRAGETNearly 200 years ago two French jewellers, the brothers Alphonse and Joseph Fraget, arrived in Warsaw to start the production of relatively cheap silver table ware (see Literature 1, 2). At that time Warsaw was the capital of the newly-established Kingdom of Poland (by Vienna Congress in 1815), which was a kind of pseudo-autonomous state inside the Russian Empire and was ruled by the tsar Alexander I. Warsaw authorities, trying to revive the local economy after the Napoleonic wars, were very interested in foreign investment, especially in that connected with novel technologies. Indeed, the silver items produced by brothers Fraget looked like silver items but in reality were made of copper covered by a thin silver layer. The innovative method of silver deposition was developed in France towards the end of the XVIIIth century, however, it was still a newcomer in this part of Europe in the beginning of the XIXth century. This new French technology involved soldering of a thin silver sheet to the red-heated copper plate with subsequent rolling (so-called, "rolled silver" plating techniques). Such copper base with a fused silver layer was called "SILVER PLATE" or simply "PLATE" ("PLAQUÉ" in French, "PLATER" in Polish).According to the decree brought out by the Russian tsar, each newly-organized foundry in the Kingdom of Poland received a significant state support together with a number of other privileges, including a right of customless trade on the huge Russian market (see Literature 4). The first factory of Fraget brothers was built on Jasna Street (Bright Str.), which would be in the centre of nowadays Warsaw. Already in 1830, the firm received its first award (silver medal) for the high quality of its products and artistic design, thus establishing the flawless reputation which was kept over a long period of time.

Good condition overall, probably originally silver plated, now worn off to reveal bronze underneath.