posted 10-25-2004 02:21 PM            

Don Fennimore wrote his excellent Masters thesis on F&G, which I believe is in the Downes Library at the Henry Francis du Pont museun at Winterthur...

I know that at present this sounds a bit far-fetched... it is a pet theory and may well be nonsense... but I wonder who else in Philadelphia had the size of manufacturer to be shipping goods to so many other centers? Some of TF's diaries and note-books are in the Athanaeum in Philadelphia -good stuff for someone who wants to tell the WHOLE story!! - It is CLEAR from TF's diaries (I have sat and read the ones at the Athanaeum) that they were already doing this sort of business by 1813 - not necessarily spoons - who is to say that the spoon illustrated is not made locally in Boston? - but I bet that the hollow ware they sold was by F&G - the stuff listed in the ad. is all the sort of stuff that they specialized in making!!

posted 10-27-2004 01:01 PM            

quote:

---

who else in Philadelphia had the size of manufacturer to be shipping goods to so many other centers?

---

There are numbers of candidates for commercial silver production in Philadelphia. The custom of providing unmarked objects to retailers for them to mark (or already provided with their marks) and resell has made the actual makers' identification difficult. That Philadelphia served as a manufacturing center for the supply of silver products for Baltimore has been discussed and documented in an essay in Jennifer Goldsborough's Silver in Maryland." This subject has arisen within a number of Forum discussions, as well; two such topics deal with a teapot (one pot, two Lowneses) and tongs (Pierced tongs) and include details on tracing products of Philadelphia shops. While a number of shops were involved in this trade, F&G among them, most of the identifiable Philadelphia-originating silver (but not necessarily most of the silver) has been traced to the shop of Samuel Williamson. Many Baltimore silversmiths were trained in Philadelphia, and maintained ties with their former apprentice masters, from whom they also could have obtained finished silver, and whose work consequently might not be readily distinguishable from their own.

Baltimore had a large market for silver and local production could not meet the demand at competitive prices, in large part because of the exorbitant assay tax on locally made silver which pertained from 1814 - 1830, and thus much silver sold in Baltimore during this period as imported from nearby Philadelphia, which had much in common stylistically with Baltimore, but no such assay taxes.

Philadelphia itself was a large silver market, and the additional demand from Baltimore and nearby Wilmington undoubtedly fueled the development of Philadelphia's commercial silver industry. F&G, while a major player, by no means monopolized the trade. A bit later on, another major player, the firm of R&W Wilson, may have eclipsed F&G in volume of production, if not in quality.

posted 10-27-2004 08:45 PM            

1. R & W Wilson are the logical continuance from Fletcher & Gardiner - their arrival on the scene as major players almost exactly matches the end of F&G... could this be more than a coincidence??
   
2. Samuel Williamson whose account books are still extant, half at the Downes Library at Winterthur and the other half nearby (can't remember where -microfilms are available at Winterthur)- pre-dates 1813 as he retires from business before 1814 - although it is clear from these accounts that he is indeed supplying SOME goods to other shops, many to ships captains who act as sort of agents and some a great distance away.