France served as a major export market but this was interrupted when war broke out 1793. The popularity of cut steel in France may in part have been due to sumptuary laws which limited who could wear precious metals and diamonds. Manufacture of cut steel within France is attested from 1780 and by the start of the 1820s France had a large amount of domestic production of cut steel. With the end of the Napoleonic wars British produces again started exporting to France. The fashion for cut steel jewellery in France was probably given a boost when Napoleon married his second wife Marie Louise and presented her with a parure consisting of cut steel jewellery as he was unable to afford one made with gemstones.