Death Certificate Analysis: Chronological Evidence for Authentication

Two death certificates in the Valsuani family record create an unbreakable chronological argument against the “Marcello” attribution.

Carlo Valsuani’s Death (January 27, 1886)

Carlo died in Crescenzago at approximately 55 years of age, twenty-two years before the foundry’s establishment in 1908 (documented on the business letterhead “FONDEE EN 1908”). A man who died in 1886 in a small Italian town could not have founded a Parisian bronze foundry in 1908.

Claude Valsuani’s Death (September 9, 1923)

Claude died in Malgrate, Italy, at age 47. His death certificate records him as “figlio di fu Carlo” (son of the late Carlo), independently confirming the same parentage documented in his birth certificate and passport.

Authentication Implication

These two documents together establish that the foundry’s active period under Claude (1908 to 1923) falls entirely within Claude’s adult life and entirely after Carlo’s death. The “Marcello” attribution requires a founder who does not appear in any civil record from this family.