posted 01-31-2002 08:36 PM            

HI

Can you please tell me anything about this bowl its a Jos. Heinrichs SILVER SOLDERED,metal bowl.

This is an old metal bowl signed on the bottom Jos.Heinrichs, Paris +New York, SILVER SOLDERED, NEW PALM BEACH, see in the pic I took of the bottom, It measures 4 1/2 " across at top 3 3/4" across at bottom and is 3 1/4 " high. It is in good condition,no dents.Very well made, has hammered on the outside and is smooth on the inside, and how much it is worth, any thing you could tell me on it will help me.

Thank you.
I have pictures on my computer of it.

Barb

posted 01-31-2002 09:05 PM            

Joseph Heinrich began his own business c. 1897 (until c.1925).
He produced items of copper with silver accents for most of the major retailers. Most of his work would only bear the retailer's marks. Silver soldered means silver plate.

posted 02-01-2002 07:30 AM            

I must admit the term Silver Soldered has always bothered me. Every time I have had the opportunity to personally inspect items marked Silver Soldered they have always been (without question) silverplate. I once thought (as you described) the term Silver Soldered may have had something to do with bonding, particularly when there have been mounts or assembly. But I have also seen this mark used on Silverplate where there aren't mounts or assembly. Most often I have seen this mark on Tiffany silverplate. In my book ("The Guide"), I avoided including this term in my Glossary because I couldn't locate any supporting documentation.

posted 02-01-2002 02:58 PM            

Looking at your piece, I think it is a piece of Hotel Plate. I would bet that "NEW PALM BEACH" is/was the name of a posh Florida hotel.

As for marks, Heinrichs pieces can be confusing. Their best artistic wares were often unmarked, or marked only "Silver-On- Copper". I recall seeing some pieces marked "Sterling-On-Copper", which might also have been theirs. Interestingly, the marks seem to have been used indiscrimiately. I once saw a nice fully marked Heinrichs copper samovar on stand with an alcohol burner. As part of the mark it read "Silver on Copper", even though there was no silver on it at all!

posted 05-21-2006 11:20 PM            

This was designed to work with the commercial polishers. This was a box filled with tiny glass beads. The beads in turn were agitated into a whirlwind by a suction fan. The resulting storm cleaned the silver and left a gleam, but not a high polish. The solder content could be polished this way.

A silverplater told me this long ago. He was elderly 35 years ago, had a small shop in the Loop. And had one of these machines on hand. He showed me how it worked and mentioned this in passing.

It has stuck with me ever since. And I do recall seeing new, hand made Indian silver work made from silver solder.

posted 05-21-2017 06:07 PM            

quote:

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Sunset Magazine
vol. 13 (May-October 1904)
(per Sotheby's)

The 1904 San Francisco conclave was held from September 6th to 9th and was honored by the attendance of the Supreme Grand Master of the United Kingdom, the Earl of Euston. "The decorations, the parades, the welcome and receptions and entertainment were resplendent with California hospitality." When, two years later, the host city was stricken by the earthquake, American Templars sent over $48,000 to their San Francisco brethren, including $4,631 from Illinois.

"The competitive drill held in Golden Gate Park attracted over 25,000 people. Generous credit was given for the high degree of efficiency shown by the competing Commanderies. No prizes were awarded but beautiful trophies were presented to each Drill Corps" (Francis J. Scully, M.D., History of the Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States of America). The piece was described in Sunset Magazine: "a punch bowl of more than ordinary beauty and artistic merit. It is of hand-beaten copper, gold lined, ornamented with Indian arrow-heads, silver shields, spears, war-hammers, targets, scalps, and other Indian trappings bound in place with silver thongs. The handles of the bowl and the ladle are of deer horns. It was designed and exectued in San Francisco by Hammersmith and Field and is, as an easterner said, thoroughly westernesque." Despite this assertion in the press, the local jeweler had in fact turned to a New York maker for this "western" piece.

Joseph Henrich was established as a metal molder and finisher in New York by the 1880s. After 1902 he was listed both at 948 Broadway, opposite the Flatiron building and probably a showroom, and at 227 West 29th Street, most likely a workshop and perhaps a wholesale showroom. His innovative copper and silver pieces were retailed by many important firms, including Tiffany and Black Starr & Frost. An "Indian" punch bowl and stand, with many of the same motifs as the offered lot, is in the Metropolitan Museum, with a retailer's mark of Shreve, Crump & Low, Boston (Charles L. Venable, Silver in America, fig. 6.68, p. 198). The business ended in the mid 1920s.

Hammersmith & Field were San Francisco retail jewelers, founded in 1886. After the earthquake of 1906 the name was changed to Hammersmith & Co. Souvenir spoons and watches bearing their name are fairly common, but they did supply larger works such as this punch bowl and a trophy that was raced for by the San Francisco Yacht Club in 1895. However, nothing in their labeled wares indicates they could have "designed and executed" a piece of this complexity.

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