From our examinations · by Justin Jernoiu · 05.08.2026 not certified
A cutlery nobody knows
On the disappearance of small workshops, and who has to provide the proof
What was submitted to us
A customer sent us pictures of a knife whose blade carried a mark we had never seen. We had never heard of this cutlery.
Why this does not speak against the knife
In the seventies and eighties a great many workshops sprang up making Laguiole knives. The variety was enormous. Little by little most of them had to close: some found too few customers, some overreached financially, others failed at running the business. So they vanished one after another, and their marks with them.
Today a stamp on the blade alone no longer tells you readily whether this cutlery really existed or whether the mark is invented. You could research for a long time and ask many French forges whether anyone there knows the name.
Who has to provide the proof
That work is not ours. Nor can it be done for ten euros. Whoever wants such a knife registered must prove themselves that the cutlery existed: old catalogues, invoices, information from the region, photos from a collection, whatever can be found. If that proof cannot be provided, we cannot certify the knife.
Step by step we are building a directory of the cutleries that once existed, so there will be one place to look things up. It is not finished yet.
What we take from it
An unknown mark is neither proof of a forgery nor proof of authenticity. It is an open question. We only register a knife once that question has been answered, and in this case only the owner can answer it.
More cases
IG marking or A.I.P.C.L. certificate: what does each one tell you? Since the IG engraving appeared on the first blades, this question has reached us almost daily. The short answer: one speaks about a place, the other about a single knife - and nobody has to choose between them. My collections: every knife has a story Why you can now write down where your knives came from, what they mean to you and which ones belong together. And why this reaches far beyond Laguiole. Suspect a fake? What you can do now Your rights as a buyer, sensible first steps and how our examination works when you want certainty. Thiers and Laguiole: the two capitals of the French knife Why the A.I.P.C.L. certificate of authenticity covers both origins, and why the Laguiole knife would no longer exist today without Thiers. Why do so many workshops take part in the A.I.P.C.L. concept? Makers who normally compete for the same customers pull together here. The reason lies in a name that belongs to no one. The GI "Couteau de Laguiole": protected origin from the Aubrac What the Indication Géographique really regulates, which forges may carry it today and why it and the A.I.P.C.L. certificate complement each other. What does Laguiole Made in France mean? The name alone says nothing about the origin. What we base it on anyway, and why in the end it is not us alone who decide. The strongest proof a Laguiole made in France can have Why your knife's number is worth more than any sheet of paper Bought in Thiers, made elsewhere Why the place of purchase in France says nothing about the origin A logo that did not fit the picture Bought on eBay, checked with the cutlery, registered in the endDoes your Laguiole not have an A.I.P.C.L. certificate of authenticity yet?
You can have it registered afterwards, no matter where you bought the knife. We check from your photographs whether it really comes from a French forge, assign it to that forge and register it under its own number. Your knife then has the same page and the same document as any knife bought from us.
The examination costs 10.00 euros. If the result is negative, we refund it.
or 15 CARMOS points from original-laguiole.de - what those are is explained there.