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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 American Sterling Silver
 Help dating Gorham family heirloom?
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| Author | Topic: Help dating Gorham family heirloom? |
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rtanyon Posts: 2 |
posted 01-04-2005 12:19 PM
  
Hello! I'm wondering if somebody might be able to help me date a family heirloom (Gorham). Looks like its from a carving set. The first picture shows the trademark (which helped me identify it as Gorham, but beyond that I'm lost. As you wrap around the handle, it says "STERLING H 140". The engraving on the handle looks to be the letter "P" but it could be "D" and was hoping somebody might offer opinions on that (I have the surnames Pace & Dunford in my ancestry). Both families lived in the mid to late 1800's. If its "P", its probably a little older. I'd love to know any more about these pieces if you recognize them. Thanks! Scott IP: Logged |
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Patrick Vyvyan Posts: 640 |
posted 01-09-2005 02:40 PM
I believe Gorham switched from the lower coin silver standard to the slightly purer sterling in 1868, so this would probably indicate an "earliest date". IP: Logged |
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Paul Lemieux Posts: 1792 |
posted 01-11-2005 11:37 AM
These are two components from a carving set. The items date to about 1900. H140 is Gorham's model number for this pattern. The "H-series" of flatware dates to about 1900-1910, and included a wide array of patterns and styles, from totally plain handle to elaborate figural motifs. Most of the H-series flatware designs were not-full-line patterns; other than that, there seems to be no relation between different members of the H-series. I think it was just a designation Gorham gave to their non-regular patterns. We have had a couple discussions about H flatware before on these forums. IP: Logged |
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bascall Posts: 1629 |
posted 02-22-2008 04:46 PM
The following is part of a Gorham trademark registration cancellation: Word Mark STERLING G The part of this that caught my attention is the G & S: WARE OF SILVER OF STERLING STANDARD OF FINENESS. FIRST USE: 18530101 which leads me to believe that Gorham first registered the use of sterling on 1 January 1853? And most likely I've overlooked other postings that have already thoroughly covered all this. IP: Logged |
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Richard Kurtzman Moderator Posts: 768 |
posted 02-22-2008 10:26 PM
bascall, Your belief is correct. I have seen Gorham pieces, albeit rarely, dating from the 1850's which were marked sterling. IP: Logged |
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bascall Posts: 1629 |
posted 02-22-2008 10:54 PM
Here's the registration certificate with the 1853 date concerning Gorham sterling: I've pushed the envelope on image size just to try to make things legible. Hopefully, this will make the cut and not get the snip. IP: Logged |
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Scott Martin Forum Master Posts: 11520 |
posted 02-24-2008 12:03 AM
ellabee posted 02-23-2008 11:53 PM IN the New Member's Forum ====================================== This is a comment on the Help dating Gorham family heirloom? thread in the American Sterling Silver forum in which bascall has cited Gorham's trademark registration and cancellation applications in support of the idea that their use of 'sterling', the term and the standard, dates from the mid-1850s rather than 1868. That this would be so makes considerable sense given that Tiffany went to the sterling standard in the 1850s. It would resolve an implied conflict in this passage on p. 25-26 of Tiffany Silver Flatware, in which Wm. Hood, after reviewing the varying Tiffany conversion dates from 1851 to 1857 asserted by previous authors, says:
quote: Hood cites Carpenter's Gorham Silver for this. I haven't read Carpenter's book, though I hope to, so don't know on what basis he makes the 1868 determination. Surely this trademark information was known to him, and he had something to say about why it didn't cause him to consider an earlier date? IP: Logged |
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bascall Posts: 1629 |
posted 02-24-2008 10:32 AM
Here's some of what Carpenter had to say about Gorham Sterling: Adoption for its products, on 1 May 1868, of the English sterling standard of .925% silver is probably the cause for the addition of a date stamp: Gorham provided a certificate offering a money-back guarantee on the purity of its sterling ware. IP: Logged |
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