Usually the term "L'Aine" marked after an individual's name indicates "elder" or as we Americans would say, "Sr." I have seen this on a number of French pieces, and in every instance it subsequently turned out that the individual indicated also had a son working in the same trade, of the same name. It can be engraved simply as 'Laine' although usually if you look closely enough, you can see a small mark where the apostrophe should be. Sometimes this is obscured by corrosion, however.
