posted 06-25-2010 02:01 PM            

Hello, and how exciting to finally be on this forum. In this first post I will attempt only to get a text message on the board. Later I will tackle pictures, with my first question.

But, who am I and what is my interest in silver? I am a retired marketing researcher who has had a love of sterling all my life. Born in NYC but raised in Indiana, I was lucky to eat dinner every night with Tiffany flatware. My mother and father were married in 1935 and lived in NYC at the time. One of my mother's uncles was on staff at Tiffany as a designer, where he worked for over 50 years. We were told he worked primarily on custom designs. But, he did design the Hampton pattern, which came out in 1934. So, when my parents were married he gave them a set as a wedding present, and we used it every day.

But, about 35 years ago I found myself drawn to what I later learned was Victorian, especially aesthetic style, sterling. And, I started buying "my flatware" one piece at a time hoping to have no multiples. Acquiring this sterling was a great deal of fun and I learned that one piece was the most economic way to acquire great sterling flatware. So, for many years my silver drawer has been filled with an assortment of pieces that includes several Tiffany Wave Over Edge, some Shiebler, and a number of Antoine Heller designs for Gorham, among others. Friends who know about this collection look forward to finding what they have at their place when sitting down for dinner at my house.

While shopping for my flatware I also discovered Shiebler medallion ware. This was the mid 70's and I was lucky that his work was not yet "known" so it was still affordable. For instance, if a piece had been retailed by Tiffany, the dealer displayed it as "Tiffany" with no mention of Shiebler. Not until the first Modernism Show in the Park Avenue Armory in NYC (1979, I think) did I see dealers identifying pieces with his name. And, that is when it got out of my reach financially, but by then I already had a wonderful collection, most of which I still have.

Thanks for reading, if you have made it all the way through.

Hopefully in the next few days I will have figured out the picture procedures and can post with a question I have about one of my Tiffany forks which is an unknown or ever seen pattern -- by me at least, and I have both the Carpenter and Hood books.

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Elizabeth

posted 06-25-2010 05:21 PM            

The style of making a set of flatware by acquiring single examples of many different but aesthetically attractive patterns, and with each one carefully and lovingly chosen with a theme is a somewhat recent phenomena among some collectors and hostesses. I think it is great myself. You can also carry the idea to your china as well. Every diner getting their 'own' unique placesetting is delightful, and it is made even more special if you chose from among your treasures china and flatware especially for individuals and to let them know that you have taken the time to do so.

And there can be a wonderful ulterior motive behind this - you can use it as a teaching moment and topic of conversation which can plant a seed in your guests' minds an appreciation about the fascinating hobby of collecting old silver and china as they learn from you about the different makers and their histories.

And another twist can be to collect a group of souvenier spoons - the kind with fascinating figural handles but with smooth bowls so they can be used and use them as whimsical desert spoons.

posted 06-25-2010 10:28 PM            

quote:

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Hopefully in the next few days I will have figured out the picture procedures.....

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The New Members Post Forum is the place to practice posting images. We all think it is hard until we are successful correctly posting an image. Once one gets the image posted correctly, it no longer seems that difficult.

Its OK to not get it right... just tell us the details of what you did so we might make a few suggestions. And then try posting the image again using the suggestions.

posted 06-25-2010 11:44 PM            

This is Tiffany with the "T" mark for the Charles Tiffany period 1891 - 1902. Additionally it has a pattern mark (I think) of 391.

posted 06-25-2010 11:47 PM            

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. Tomorrow I will respond to some of the comments and requests, and I will start a full thread with questions about and more pictures of this strange but interesting fork -- which I believe is a fish fork, but which I use as dessert fork.

posted 06-26-2010 11:03 PM            

And, as you said, it is something that lends itself to conversation and informing friends about exactly what it is they are using.

Dale, you asked about my great uncle who worked as a Tiffany designer. I am sorry to say that I don't know much in the way of biography. My immediate family lived in Indiana and most of my mother's family was in NYC and CT and we did not see them often when I was a child. So, I did not see him more than a handful of times.

But, his name was Charles Blake, and I believe he worked at Tiffany during the first half of the 20't century. I seem to recall that he did not start out designing, but worked into that. As far as we were told he did a lot of custom design work, but that probably was something he worked into. Family stories were that he did design some items for the Duke of Windsor and when meeting with him to talk about the design referred to the Duka as "Mr. Windsor". He was a quiet, mild mannered man -- with a wife who was a character. She was one of my maternal grandmother's 5 sisters.

As far as any of us knew, Hampton was the only flatware pattern he designed. But, in the past few weeks I did a google search and found that he is credited with designing Palmette, but not Hampton, which is attributed to Arthur LeRoy Barney. My guess is that Mr. Barney may have been the top/chief designer and so signed any paperwork about the pattern that Uncle Charlie worked on. Hampton was the pattern he gave my mother for her wedding, and it was the pattern he had at his home, so I see no reason to believe that he was not heavily involved in its design and development. And, most likely by the time he did Palmette 13 years later he may have also achieved a high position within the company and so was then signing paperwork. But, this is only my guess.

I did see some pieces attributed to him in some auctions when I did my search -- a set of candlesticks was one and some other items as well.

Other designs we were told he did included the Photoplay Award medallion, the lotus pattern dishes, and the front doors to the current store -- the metal doors that are closed at night. I am sure many other things were his design, because of his long tenure there. But, I have no idea what they might be. Sorry not to have been able to tell you more, but thanks for asking.

posted 06-28-2010 01:21 AM            

Just can't believe everything you read on the internet (nice to see that the family history is correct):

U.S. Patent #D83786(Hampton) was issued on March 31, 1931 to Charles B.Blake, assigned to Tiffany.

U.S. Patent #D146494(Palmette) was issued on March 25, 1947 to Charles B. Blake, assigned to Tiffany.

posted 06-28-2010 09:02 AM            

U.S. Patent #D146494(Palmette) was issued on March 25, 1947 to Charles B. Blake, assigned to Tiffany."

I say, Cheryl....

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I never thought to do that, silly me. My information came from a website that came up I went to after I found out about Palmette. I did a search for that pattern and found the website which had some for sale and had the attribution. So, I decided to see what they had for Hampton and it was the other gentleman's name. I think I will have to ask them about this and see if I can correct the record.

I really appreciate the effort that you went to for me and to set the record straight!
Elizabeth