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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 American Silver before sterling
 Does anybody here collect southern coin?
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| Author | Topic: Does anybody here collect southern coin? |
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asheland Posts: 935 |
posted 01-15-2015 12:00 PM
  
Southern coin silver is my newest area of collecting and study. I guess it took my finding of a very rare Tennessee piece to kickstart the new passion!  I was curios if any of the members here are into southern silver... It's indeed hard to find the better pieces, sure you can get a beat-up fiddle pattern teaspoon from Virgina from the 1850's with little effort, but I am aiming for earlier pieces with condition as a top priority! I've also started to assemble a group of books on the subject state by state. Are there any good titles on southern coin in general? I look forward to the discussions! IP: Logged |
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doc Posts: 728 |
posted 01-16-2015 07:51 AM
I do, asheland. Difficult to find around here in upstate NY, but not impossible. Admittedly, being a dealer, I often sell my southern coin silver rather than hold on to it, given the premium it brings over other types of coin silver. But I do have a few pieces tucked away! IP: Logged |
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asheland Posts: 935 |
posted 01-16-2015 10:03 AM
Indeed, it has been an interesting new direction from what I have been collecting! Where are the items from that you have? So far I have a Nashville, TN piece and a pair of tablespoons from Mobile, Al. Both were bought as "old silver items" even cheap when compared to common northern coin silver in so-so condition. It has spoiled me in a way! It definitely keeps me on the hunt for new pieces! You truly never know what you'll find out there! [This message has been edited by asheland (edited 01-16-2015).] IP: Logged |
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doc Posts: 728 |
posted 01-17-2015 08:15 AM
It does make the hunt fun! My current "collection" is comprised of a Charleston SC serving spoon and some Kentucky teaspoons. I have a couple of pieces from OS Jennings, but since they were both in New Orleans and New York, I don't count it as Southern. I have previously had an early spoon from Danville Va, some other Kentucky spoons, and the favorite find, a water pitcher from Hayden & Gale in Charleston (a find in a shop in Maine). I think I may have posted this story before, but when I sold the Danville VA spoon on an online auction site for a nice price, the winning bidder emailed me and said "OK, now that the auction is over, why did I have to pay so much for a little teaspoon?"! How do you answer that?!! Turns out he was a history buff from Danville, but didn't know anything about coin silver, so we had a good exchange about it. But it made me laugh! IP: Logged |
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Polly Posts: 1970 |
posted 01-17-2015 01:28 PM
My collection of southern coin silver consists entirely of one c. 1790s sugar tongs made by William Richardson of Virginia, which I bought last year from someone who listed it as sterling from the 1930s. I knew it was late-18th century coin, but I had no idea it was southern until WEV told me in this thread: Is this William Roe? IP: Logged |
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asheland Posts: 935 |
posted 01-17-2015 09:58 PM
That's cool to hear both stories of finding these pieces they way you did! I just yesterday got the books for NC, SC, & GA! I'm expanding my library with every book that I can find that has to do with southern coin... My best story (also the piece that started my passion for southern coin) goes like this: She hands me a handled cup, Kirk, I believe, 1930's lightweight not anything I would want...It even had not only a mono removal, but looked as if somebody had sanded it off with a piece of sandpaper!!! Yuk! I handed it back promptly! Next was another handled cup by Gorham, 1890's, decent condition and a decent price, too, but it didn't really do anything to excite me, so I handed it back, also. The third piece was this old coin silver beaker. It looked to be original and in pretty good shape, but had this nasty black gunk dried into the bottom as if something was left to dry in the bottom of the cup literally years ago! I asked the price, and I'll just say it was melt plus 25%. I handed it back and said I'll think about that one... Well I look as she puts it back on that shelf and maybe a minute goes by at best and my gut says "buy that" So I asked to see the beaker again and end up buying it. I still was not terribly excited about my purchase, just lukewarm. I guess it was the thought of cleaning that junk out of it that made me not so thrilled... :-) Later that day it dawned on me... It later turns out that Tennessee Juleps are extremely scarce! It's a needle in a haystack that I was able to find such a piece! It also turns out to be one of the earliest examples known for Tennessee Holloware! If anyone cares to see it, I'll post pictures in the next day or two. IP: Logged |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 01-18-2015 12:05 AM
One book I would recommend is "Virginia Silversmiths"by Catherine Holland. Many of the southern silversmiths started their careers in Virginia and Ms. Holland follows their career to the other states where they lived and worked. For those that did start in Virginia this book most likely will have better information than older books. I wish that Ms. Holland’s book had been published in two or three volumes as one volume is quite heavy. If you buy it you will see what I mean as one has to be sitting at a table to read it. I would love to see a picture of your beaker – finds of that kind are always fun. IP: Logged |
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asheland Posts: 935 |
posted 01-18-2015 04:00 AM
Thanks for the heads up on that book! I'll look into that... Here's my favourite southern piece! IP: Logged |
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asheland Posts: 935 |
posted 01-18-2015 04:02 AM
doc, do you have a picture of that water pitcher from Charleston? That sounds very interesting! IP: Logged |
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Fitzhugh Posts: 136 |
posted 04-06-2015 10:47 AM
30 years now collecting and researching Southern coin silver, emphasizing Kentucky and Tennessee, but also interested in New Orleans, Savannah, & Charleston. Always glad to hear from a new collector. IP: Logged |
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