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| Author | Topic: New Member with New (to me) Silver Collection |
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Avast Posts: 4 |
posted 08-18-2017 10:01 PM
  
Inherited a bunch of silver & I'm looking forward to learning about what I have in the cupboards. Going piece by piece and doing what research I can. Some successful. Some not so much. Currently researching without much success my favorite piece -- a coin silver ladle with a cool looking portrait head attached to the handle. My other favorite piece of silverplate flatware that I have a few questions about is the Benj J Mayo spoon. It's about 9 inches long with a strange cleft in the bottom. Wondering if that cleft had any special use. Also would like to know what the PAT. MARIA mark means. Is that the pattern? Would like to be able to date the spoon if I can. [This message has been edited by Avast (edited 08-19-2017).] IP: Logged |
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Polly Posts: 1970 |
posted 08-19-2017 04:29 PM
Welcome, Avast. Before answering your query, members will want to be reassured that you've read guidelines and are not looking for information which you will then use for commercial purposes, such as to sell your items: http://www.smpub.com/ubb/SSF-Guidelines.html In the meantime, I will just mention that the mark on your pretty silverplate spoon is probably some abbreviation of the phrase "Patent Applied For" (perhaps "Pat. Appl. For"), not Pat. Maria. Though it was very tempting to invent a long biography of the great silversmith Patricia Maria! IP: Logged |
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Avast Posts: 4 |
posted 08-19-2017 06:53 PM
Hi Polly, Rest assured none of the questions are for commercial purposes. These are all family pieces that have been passed down and have a lot of sentimental value. Not for sale! Unfortunately no one ever spoke about where they came from or how they were acquired. My first real surprise was finding out that I now had a Juvento Lopez Reyes sterling pitcher. My in-laws definitely had good taste! They traveled extensively in Latin America so there may be more surprises. I'm just hoping that I can gather info (and I'm writing it all down) for the next generation. IP: Logged |
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dragonflywink Posts: 993 |
posted 08-19-2017 07:02 PM
It should read 'PAT.MAR.14.71' - Reed & Barton's 'Gem' pattern, introduced in 1871. ~Cheryl IP: Logged |
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Polly Posts: 1970 |
posted 08-19-2017 10:43 PM
Good eye, Cheryl! The cleft is probably just decoration, not functional. It may be an ice cream spoon, or possibly for jam or sugar. The coin silver ladle is from around the same time, c. 1860s, when patterns with busts and medallions were popular. If I were going to guess, I would say it might have been made by Duhme of Cincinnati, but that would be just a guess. Maybe someone will recognize the star or the bust, which was cast and then soldered onto the handle. IP: Logged |
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Avast Posts: 4 |
posted 08-20-2017 10:38 AM
Thanks, Cheryl! You have better eyes than I do, that's for sure. I looked at other examples on-line of "Gem" and the ladles and large spoons seem to have that cleft. Must be some kind of design element. I was busy looking for Benjamin J. Mayo. Never thought to look anywhere else. Since the piece is not stamped Reed and Barton does that mean Mayo was just the retailer? Reason I ask is that I have some stray pieces of flatware in the Medallion pattern by Wendt but they are stamped Starr & Marcus which I have come to discover was the actual retailer. Wondering if this is a similar sort of deal.
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Avast Posts: 4 |
posted 08-20-2017 10:41 AM
Thanks, Polly! Definitely gives me a place to start looking in regards to the coin silver ladle now that I know that figurehead/medallion style was mid-19th century.
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Kimo Posts: 1627 |
posted 08-20-2017 07:23 PM
Retailers often stamped their names onto silver before they sold it. Sometimes they even had the maker leave off the maker's name so the retailer's name was the only one on their wares. IP: Logged |
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Kimo Posts: 1627 |
posted 08-21-2017 03:57 PM
I also note that on the back of your silver plated spoon there is a deep cut across the handle. Apparently someone unknowledgeable about silver was checking to see if this was solid silver by cutting down into the middle of the metal to test with acid. This kind of damage to silver plated things is very sad - it is obviously plated and not solid and is beautiful it its own right. Such destructive testing of beautiful silver plate is makes me cringe. IP: Logged |
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Polly Posts: 1970 |
posted 08-23-2017 03:25 PM
I didn't realize your silver-plated spoon was large. In that case, not an ice-cream or sugar spoon, but probably a serving spoon of some kind. IP: Logged |
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