posted 06-16-2018 10:11 PM            

The Whiting lily pattern has a very heavy asparagus server that I think could be enlisted to serve all kinds of things. This was a very welcome addition.

posted 06-18-2018 01:05 PM            

I recently found a piece in this pattern also. Mine is a ladle and while it wasn't as cheaply purchased, I did get mine for the melt price which is still a screaming deal.

posted 08-14-2018 07:16 AM            

These are dessert size spoons in the Lily pattern and I think are interesting as one has the 1902 patent noted on the reverse while the other must have been made a year or two before 1902 as it says patent pending. We found the 6 “patent pending” ones this weekend in Atlanta and already had 6 of the ones with the 1902 patent noted.

The 6 with the pending notice all weight exactly 50 grams each for a total of 300 grams, while the other six range in weight from 48 to 51 grams for a total of 294 grams. I do not know what this means for their quality control for weight, but I think at the time this were made silver was fairly low in price.

The R’D mark may refer to registration for a trademark.

posted 09-11-2018 03:17 PM            

The Lily pattern by Whiting and later by Gorham has more variations than I realized. The pictured knifes are all different length and size. We just found out that these knives are made in a banquet size that is over 10 ½ “long. This version also has an oversized handle that has a slightly different pattern that the smaller knives. The top two knives have the 1902 date on them while the bottom one does not. The bottom two knives seem to have the same handle, however one is longer as it has what is called a booster between the blade and the handle.

There is also pictured a server that may be called a pasta/macaroni server or maybe a tomato server. It is not the 1902 version as that one has a more decorative bowl.

It is interesting to me that so many sizes and versions were made in this pattern. I am not really familiar with other patterns of this time period and that may have been common practice during this time period. Any thoughts on this?

posted 09-25-2018 01:58 PM            

Above is a photo of the back of a Lily pattern spoon that is authentic and below is the back stamp on a counterfeit Lily piece.

This counterfeit piece was really very attractive and just looking at it without a loop I could not tell that is was not real. Under a loop however the Whiting mark and reference to the 1902 date were not readable. In some of counterfeit pieces that have seen these marks were just removed completely. The roughness in the casting carried over to the crevices of the flowers as I guess it would have been too time consuming to polish everything.

Some of the silver dealers that I know have actually scraped these counterfeits and some sell them as fakes at greatly reduced pieces. It is always buyers beware, but I would think scrapping would be a better way to just get them off the market.

posted 01-15-2019 09:54 PM            

The last Whiting Lily soup ladle we brought turned out to be a reproduction, but this one seems to be the real thing. I think it is a very attractive pattern and is surprisingly heavy. At 308 grams it is on the heavy side for ladles we own. I think all of our other soup ladles were made before 1860 so it may be that ladles just got heavier as time went by.

We have one other Lily piece that has the Patent applied mark on it which just means it was made before Whiting switched over to identifying the year they obtained their patent. Whiting obtained their design patent in 1902, but they might have waited some time before they started marking their silver to reflect this.

This is going to be used for a Louisiana gumbo later on this week and it should be perfect for that purpose.

posted 01-27-2019 10:46 AM            

The big spoon on the top was not a platter spoon, but instead is part of a salad serving set that includes a large fork. I know they also made a mustard spoon and I suspect they made egg spoons.

I wonder which silver manufacture made the most pieces for a single pattern?

Lisa you are right that you have to be careful in buying this pattern. We just buy if we see it in person or if the seller has a good return policy.

posted 03-11-2019 12:18 AM            

We had a good time in Atlanta this weekend and found a couple of Whiting Lily pieces. The one above is called a jelly cake roll server. Jelly cake rolls must have been fairly poplar as several silver manufacturers made one for their regular patterns. I remember jelly rolls as a child, but I must admit I have not seen one in a long time. The Lily one has very nice engraving on the blade and the other ones I have seen have also been beautifully decorated. I imagine these servers would have been used with a dessert set of your finest china.

This server is called a marmalade server and is quite a bit larger than a normal jelly server. The last picture shows a berry spoon next to this marmalade server just for size comparison. The designs are similar with the berry spoon just being larger in all aspects.

Marmalade is a clear thick preserve made with citrus fruits, usually containing the shredded rind of the fruit.
It was a good weekend for finding pieces for serving sweet things.

posted 03-11-2019 10:16 PM            

These serving spoons all have the same design and vary only in size.

We have thought of the small one as a sugar spoon, but it could be used for other things including marmalade or jelly.

The dies used during the time period Whiting made these produced very crisp designs. The same could be said of silver-plated flatware of this time period. Everything seemed in focus for the silver manufacturers at this time.

posted 03-11-2019 10:40 PM            

Here is one last post for awhile for the Lily pattern. This is called an olive spoon by Whiting. The stem is much narrower than used on their other pieces and instead of flowers Whiting filled the stem with a series of overlapping leaves. As a result it has a very graceful linear appearance.

Silver from this time period is rather new to me as I normally have been interested in silver before 1860.

posted 07-17-2019 03:52 PM            

I normally like silver that was made before1830 or 1840, but the Lily pattern by Whiting is one that for some reason I really like.
The uppermost picture has knives in this pattern of varying size. We recently brought the lower two in this picture and they are probably called banquet size as they are 10 ¾ inches long. Whiting also made one slightly smaller (10 ½” long) knife that has a different style blade. It also has something that between the handle and the blade that is called a booster. I have no idea why two knives so close in size were made. Maybe the style of the blade determined when it was used.

The upper two knives in this picture probably today would be called dinner and luncheon size.

posted 09-13-2019 02:22 PM            

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posted 12-30-2019 04:10 PM            

Whiting made just about everything that might be useful with their Lily pattern. From bottom to top here are a two tine butter pick, a confection spoon and a fried oyster server.
The oyster server is marked Whiting only without the 1902. I really do not know when Whiting dropped the 1902 mark. I think the design patent term was 14 years at this time so the patent would have expired in 1916. Companies were not quick to delete patent notices so I could see the reference to 1902 lasting for some years after 1916.
I think the most that can be said is that it was made before Gorham started using their mark.