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Unknown Whiting Serving Piece

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Author	Topic: Unknown Whiting Serving Piece
David C Walters Posts: 64 Registered: Apr 2012	posted 04-21-2012 11:34 AM Hello Everyone, In my last topic I had shown a photo of my recently completed display case and Polly had commented that she'd like to see some of the treasures I keep inside it. One of my favorite pieces is this Whiting serving spoon that I purchased six months ago that features a unique bowl. It is approximately 8 1/2" long and terminates with an ornate Calla Lily flower (I collect this pattern). It dates from roughly 1866-1875. So far no one has been able to identify the use for this particular, oddly shaped bowl (if there was in fact a specific use in mind when it was designed). I recently saw one of Antique Cupboard's youtube videos that featured a similar bowl on a different Whiting pattern and Phil commented that he had no idea what the bowl was for. I have also come across a large version of this bowl on another Whiting piece as well as that same larger version, but with a pierced top to form a sort of blunt fork. Here are some photos of the spoon in question. Please let me know if anyone has ever seen this piece type formally identified before. Front of spoon: Rear of spoon: Close ups of bowl: Any thoughts or feedback is appreciated. Thank you! IP: Logged
Polly Posts: 1970 Registered: Nov 2004	posted 04-21-2012 02:15 PM Ooo, goody! I was hoping you would show us some of those pretty things soon! Could that be half of a salad-serving set? With a fork as the other half? I can't quite tell how big it is. IP: Logged
David C Walters Posts: 64 Registered: Apr 2012	posted 04-21-2012 02:40 PM It is about 8 1/2 inches from the tip of the bowl to the top of the calla lily. I think it is a little too small to be part of a salad serving set, but I think that might be an apt description for the larger spoon I mentioned in my post. I actually have the original box that this spoon came in (not pictured) and it was custom fitted for only the one piece. IP: Logged
wev Moderator Posts: 4121 Registered: Apr 99	posted 04-21-2012 03:08 PM My first thought was a jelly or aspic spoon. IP: Logged
jersey Posts: 1203 Registered: Feb 2005	posted 04-21-2012 09:38 PM Hi David, I have a question please. Can we see the mark please? Thank you Jersey IP: Logged
David C Walters Posts: 64 Registered: Apr 2012	posted 04-21-2012 09:51 PM Unfortunately, it is only marked "Sterling." I can confirm that it is a Whiting piece only because I collect their work and can compare this one to several fully hallmarked pieces. I also collect their jewelry boxes from this period (they are fairly distinctive) and this piece came in one of their boxes. I encounter this difficulty with nearly all of the Whiting patterns from before their move from Attleboro, MA to New York City in 1875. It is amazing how many different marks the Whiting Manufacturing Company utilized during this period. David [This message has been edited by David C Walters (edited 04-21-2012).] IP: Logged
Kimo Posts: 1627 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 04-22-2012 10:22 AM I really like this pattern! I would use it for serving berries or other fruit. Of course any fruit that is larger than a mouthfull would be appropriately cut up by your kitchen staff into small bite-sized pieces before being served. The indentations would be very helpful for keeping your berries or fruit from sliding around in the bowl of the spoon as you were serving. Silverware makers went completely wild in those days making up a different piece of flatware for pretty much every kind of food under the sun to help keep their sales going, you can use pretty much any piece of flatware for any kind of food you like. For example, another kind of food you might find this serving spoon very handy to use are bon-bons, or other candies. Hopefully someone here will recognize this and be able to give you an exact answer. [This message has been edited by Kimo (edited 04-23-2012).] IP: Logged
David C Walters Posts: 64 Registered: Apr 2012	posted 04-23-2012 07:45 AM Thank you all for taking the time to read my post! My initial thoughts were along the lines of wev's - if I had to guess I would say it was a jelly server too. I think it is too narrow to be a berry spoon, but I could see it as a jelly server of some kind. I have come across so many odd bowl types that Whiting used during this time period and I am not certain that many of them had a specific use in mind. I chose to throw this one out there in the hopes that maybe I would get lucky and someone would know if it had a specific use, but I would be surprised if anyone could identify a bowl this odd. IP: Logged
dragonflywink Posts: 993 Registered: Dec 2002	posted 04-24-2012 04:17 PM I'd suspect a preserve spoon, though a berry spoon doesn't seem unlikely to me - sometimes hard to tell with eccentrically-shaped bowls. ~Cheryl [This message has been edited by dragonflywink (edited 04-24-2012).] IP: Logged

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