Company Profiles, F. Ghelfi, Birolleau & Cie. (F.G.B.C.), F.G.B.C. (F. Ghelfi, Birolleau & Cie.), French Stones

Chapter:”L. Belle”

Who were the people behind F.G.B.C…?

(written by  Jethro aka Fikira, historyrazors.wordpress.com)

“F.G.B.C.” produced & sold many sharpening stones, for example:
“pierre La Lune”, “Special Stone only for Good Razors”,
“New Master Stone”, … This article (split up into different chapters)
reveals the history behind the company

Chapters:

“L. Belle”

1902/ 1 January – 31 December 

As previous mentioned, “D.Giovannacci” became the owner
of the fund “84, Rue du Faubourg St-Antoine, Paris”on
1 January 1902, he resold it to Mr. Belle on 31 December 1902

(https://books.google.be/books;
Journal des tribunaux de commerce 1910)

“… Giovannacci became, as from 1 January 1902,
the only owner of the funds, he resold it December 31, 1902
to Belle, the plaintiff in the current trial … “

Link

The building itself, not the fund, was still property of “Ghelfi”
We’ve established that “Jean-Baptiste Ghelfi”
must have been the owner

1908-1909

A residential building of 7 floors was constructed for Mr. Ghelfi at
“84 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine (12e arr.)”

  1. “PARIS 1876-1939 : LES PERMIS DE CONSTRUIRE” Link
  2. lib.ugent.be “Le Béton armé” (p.31) Link
  3. archiwebture.citechaillot.fr Link
“84 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine” (12e arr.)
Owner: Ghelfi, “30, avenue Daumesnil”
Architect: Jacquemin, “30, avenue Daumesnil”
Construction 7 floors
1 May 1908

Link

 1909
(private collection)

 This receipt of 1909 shows that “Belle” moved in 1909
(or earlier), from “84, rue du Faubourg St.-Antoine”
to “87, rue du Faubourg St.-Antoine”

“Pierres et meules à aiguiser & à polir”
“L. Belle”
“87 Faubourg St.-Antoine”
“ci-devant 84, même rue”
PARIS
“Stones and grindstones & polishing”
“L. Belle”
“87 Faubourg St. Antoine”
“Heretofore 84, same street”
PARIS

1909-l-belle-1


Another receipt (which I can’t show…), dated 15 January 1909,
lets me think (because it is so early in the year 1909) that “Belle”
most probably moved from “84, rue du Faubourg St.-Antoine”
to “87, rue du Faubourg St.-Antoine” in 1908
(being more specific then 1908-1909)

→ So:
·
“Jean-Baptiste Ghelfi” owned the house,
“84 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine“,
rebuild it to a residential building in 1908.
·
“Belle”, who owned the business at
“84, rue du Faubourg St.-Antoine”
(used to be property of Ghelfi), needed to move
to “87, rue du Faubourg St.-Antoine” in 1908.

1916/ 28 December

Next document makes very clear that “Belle” was the successor of
“D. Giovannacci” and “L. & B. Ghelfi”

courtesy of Sebastian of “razorlovestones.com“:

“Pierres et meules à aiguiser & à polir”
“D.Giovannacci, L.&B.Ghelfi”
“L.BELLE Succr.”

“Bureaux & Magasins”: 
“87, Faubg. St. Antoine”
“ci-devant: 84, Fg. St. Antoine”

“Maison Fondée en 1845”

Usines (factories):
“Paris, 61, Rue de Charonne”
“Bédarrides (Vaucluse)”
“Massa (Italie)”
“Succursale à Londres”

1916:12:28 L. Belle Sebastian 1.jpg

  • Regrettably, at this moment I haven’t found more information about “Maison fondée en 1845” (“House” founded in 1845)…
  • “Bédarrides (Vaucluse)” is situated in southeastern France,
    in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.
  • Usine a vapeur: “61, Rue de Charonne, Paris”
  • They also had a section in “London”
  • When compared with the postcard from 1898/ 11 November, 

“D. Giovannacci, L. & B. Ghelfi”

Bureaux et Magasins: 
“84, Faubourg St.-Antoine, Paris”

Usine a vapeur: “61, Rue de Charonne, Paris”
Usine hydraulique, à Canevara, près Massa (Italie)
Succursales à Londres et New-York

 it is clear that “L.Belle” acquired a lot more from
“D. Giovannacci, L. & B. Ghelfi” than only the fund
at “84, Faubourg St.-Antoine, Paris”!

Also note the “usine” in Massa, Italy,
this is where the Ghelfi’s originally came from!

1925

(gallica.bnf.fr Link, Annuaire industriel.
Répertoire général de la production française Link)
Link1, Link2, Link3

“Belle (L.), 87, fbg. St-Antoine, Paris”
“Pierres et Meules à aiguiser, à l’huile, en corindon,…”

1928-1929

(https://books.google.be; “L’Annual”:
annuaire universel de l’industrie automobile)

“BELLE”,
fabrique de meules en grès, et de pierres à aiguiser et à polir,
“87, rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris“

Link

1935

(gallica.bnf.fr Link, Annuaire industriel.
Répertoire général de la production française Link)
Link1, Link2, Link3

“Belle (L.)”,
“87, fbg. St-Antoine, Paris”
“Pierres et Meules à aiguiser, à l’huile, en corindon,…”

1935/ 22 August
(Private collection)

Vve Valentin Ghelfi became the owner of etablissements BELLE:

“Etablissements BELLE”
“Veuve Valentin Ghelfi, Propriétaire”
“Meules, pierres, outillage, produits a aiguiser et a polir”

“Ancienne maison”

“D.Giovannacci, L.&B.Ghelfi”
“Fondée en 1845”

“M.P.O.P.”

“87, Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris”
“Magasin de Meules & Usine”
“72, Rue Saint-Maur, Paris”

1935-l-belle-mpop-1

M.P.O.P. stands for:
Meules, Pierres, Outillage, Produits a aiguiser et a polir

1938

Although it is established that the widow of “Valentin Ghelfi”
acquired the business back from “Belle”, there are documents
to be found until 1938 of “L. Belle”, selling grinding, sharpening
and polishing stones at “87, Rue du Faubourg St-Antoine“,
so apparently, the company kept on using the name “L.Belle“

This could mean that “L. Belle” had established a good and
well know name, maybe “Valentin Ghelfi” possibly didn’t.

When noticing the usage of the ancient names
“D.Giovannacci, L.&B.Ghelfi”, it is clear that those names
still were very well known, the names kept on being used,
even by the third owner of the company!

(gallica.bnf.fr Link, Annuaire industriel.
Répertoire général de la production française Link)

“BELLE (L.), 87, fbg St-Antoine”
“Ateliers: “61, r. de Charonne”
“Meules et pierres à aiguiser”

Link1, Link2, Link3

 For the moment unfortunately, we don’t know more
of who exactly Mr. “L. Belle” was…

⇐ Previous chapter: “Bardotti, Giovannacci”
⇒ Next chapter: “Zanarelli, Galtié”