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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 American Sterling Silver
 Whiting and Gorham Marks
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| Author | Topic: Whiting and Gorham Marks |
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Tad Hale Posts: 120 |
posted 03-05-2006 02:55 PM
  
Back in the 80's I had Lettuce Spoons, Lettuce Forks, Food Pushers, Long Handled Pierced Olive Spoons and I believe a small Tomato Server made in Chantilly. I believe we had to purchase 100 or 200 of each item on a special program they were running at that time. Some of the pieces had the old marks on them and some had the Gorham Sterling mark. I asked them if they could produce these with all old marks, and I was told that they could only use the marks that were available on the dies that they had in their vault. It was too expensive for them to create new dies to make a few hundred pieces. A couple of years later dies were cut by a laser at a fraction of the cost. If the dies are no longer available for a piece it is considered Obsolete and can no longer be made, other dies that they have in their vault and are not using are considered Inactive and dies that are being used today are considered Active for pieces that are currently in production. I have also seen the Gorham mark and Durgin mark on the same piece which must have been a transitional piece. The couple of pieces that I have seen were on the Gorham "Cambridge" pattern also known as the "English Rose" pattern by Durgin. The reason some of the "Lily" pieces are still made with the Whiting mark is because the die is still good and they see no reason to spend the money to recut another die. IP: Logged |
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Dale Posts: 2132 |
posted 03-06-2006 11:57 AM
Thank you so much Ted! This is something we have kicked around here over and over. There was a tea ball with Watrous marks that came up here. There were two schools of thought. One held that as it had the Watrous mark, it was pre 1920 as a reissue would have the current mark. The other held that the mark was integral to the die, and would appear as long as the die was usable. You have cleared this up. Many thanks. Do you know which of the IS dies have been used by Wallace since they took over? Or what from the past is being made again? IP: Logged |
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carlaz Posts: 239 |
posted 03-11-2006 09:10 AM
I can relate to the challenges of old marks vs new marks, especially when it applies to such popular patterns as Chantilly by Gorham. Currently, some pieces are coming out of the factory with original marks, and a great example of this is the Tomato server. The only difference that I have been able to clarify between the original produced pieces to the new one is the piercing design. My suggestion is to check with the catalog reprints to confirm but even that is not a sure thing. Towle Old Colonial stopped piercing their tomato server, making the original pieced server more valuable (of course, this was verified the last time I was able to check directly with the manufacturer but it could be different now, who knows!)Another challenge that I have also come across is that a Silver Manufacturer will 'rename' a piece type- example bon bon spoon to confection spoon. It is the same piece but they rename it, letting some people order it thinking it is a different piece type. It is a constant challenge and the only way I have been able to confirm either way with Gorham is if I was able to get to someone in the factory to actually go check the die currently used for a specific piece type in production to verify the backstamp.  [This message has been edited by carlaz (edited 03-16-2006).] IP: Logged |
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