posted 05-06-2001 10:34 PM            

I have pondered over just what the "H" means, since the flatware styles I have seen it on are all over the place. Did Gorham use it on specific lines of flatware? On some/all not-full-line flatware from this period? Something else?

Here is a breakdown of what I have seen the "H" mark on:

• Art Nouveau period serving pieces: these are very pretty and ornate, and include berry spoons, bon-bon/nut spoons, etc.
  
• State souvenir spoons; marked with H followed by a number in the 900s.
  
• Fairly plain or mundane patterns from the 1890s or so; (ex. [gone from the internet] on eBay)
  
• Floral teaspoons.
  
• A Narragansett pattern style spoon, but with a small teaspoon or large coffee bowl, rather than the realistic shell bowl usually seen.
  
• I once saw a salt spoon, in the same mode as the figural Florence pattern, with an H number.
  
• In the Gorham pattern section of Carpenter's book, Carpenter illustrates an H83 pattern from c. 1870, and several H patterns from c. 1900: H108, H109, H200, H252, H316, H385, & H451. I have a feeling that the c. 1900 ones are not-full-line patterns; about the c. 1870 one I am uncertain.
  
• Finally, I have a two-piece youth set with a handle that is shaped like the Antique pattern and is completely plain except for a cast and applied cherub's face among some scrolls at the top of each handle. The knife is marked 1465M, the fork, H1466M--I have no clue what the M means. The fork does not have an H, just M. The fork has the 1898 date mark; both pieces have the post-1893 French import swan mark.

Also, I see the letters A and B pretty regularly as a prefix to the item's number (these are on hollowware), but I can't recall offhand seeing all of the letters C through G. So why H, I wonder--is it just random, or is there a special reason?

One thing I sure of--all of the pieces I have seen date to the 1890 to 1910 period (except the c.1870 pattern shown in Carpenter).

Any insights or ideas would be appreciated.