posted 07-04-2002 09:12 PM            

Alphonse LaPaglia was a silversmith and designer who made some wonderful pieces during the 1940s and early 1950's. His career was covered in some detail in Silver magazine (May-June 1995). LaPaglia first burst onto the silver scene during WW II by creating pieces for Frederick Lunning at the Georg Jensen store in New York City. The war had cut off supplies of authentic Jensen silver, and Mr. Lunning contracted with a number of American firms to supply the Jensen shop. Many, but not all, of these pieces were created in the Jensen style.

LaPaglia continued to make pieces for Jensen USA until about 1949 from his shop in New Jersey. In 1952, LaPaglia became affiliated with the International Silver Company and moved to Meriden, CT. He set up a shop in the rear of his home, and with a handful of assistants became "International Sterling Craft Associates". Unfortunately, LaPaglia died in November 1953. International bought the business and continued to operate the small shop for a short time. Later, the line was moved to the main International facility and much of the hand work was lost.

This splendid meat fork is one of the best LaPaglia pieces I have seen. It almost seems like a conscious attempt to "out-Jensen" Jensen, and the workmanship on this piece is certainly of Jensen quality. I would imagine that this piece, with its International Silver trademark, dates from the short period before the shop was moved to the main facility. It came from an estate in Connecticut which had other LaPaglia pieces, so who knows?

LaPaglia's reputation as a designer is hurt both by his short career, and the fact that he produced Jensen "copies". Jensen USA silver is usually disregarded by silver collectors as inferior to the Danish product. While this can often be the case, pieces by LaPaglia deserve to be recognized on their own merits.

Does anyone have othe LaPaglia pieces they would like to share? I have seen Jensen USA pieces with his LP stamp, as well as International Silver jewelry with a "LaPaglia Design" stamp in script. I believe this script mark is found mainly on later pieces. I would like to see othe mark variations, if possible.

Brent

posted 07-05-2002 09:07 AM            

• This is from a prior post, entitled Jensen USA:
  

• from an auction:
  

posted 07-05-2002 03:10 PM            

Thank you for all of the great pieces. I especially like the spoon with the ebony(?) handle, although that particular mark is the one I suspect that International used after his death.

My fork is about 7 7/8 inches long and is quite heavy. The picture on the far right is actually of the back, so you can see that the design is equally well defined on both sides. I am still a bit unsure as to how this piece was actually made. I would assume that the handle was cast rough, then worked into shape through chasing. There are faint saw marks along the edges of the tines, so I suspect they were cut out by hand. How would you tackle something like this, Fred?

Thanks again!

posted 07-05-2002 07:02 PM            

The forging is similar to making a spoon. The metal that will become the tines has to remain fairly thick to be able to take the stress of use and they have to be well planished to both smooth and harden the silver. The tines are often marked with a template and somefolks will drill holes at the termination of the tines closest to the handle. Now with a keen eye you sawcut the silver between the tines and file it smooth and parallel with a file.

As far as the handle is concerned I imagine you are right that it was first cast and then chased to refine the details. Without examining the item it is difficult to determine method of construction.