Bruce Cherner Antique Silver  
2528   $75.00

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circa 1835, double swell fiddle with pointed chamfered shoulders, length three inches, weight .15 oz Troy, fine condition, marked as shown in second photo.

These are rather scarce, and this example with its broad, flat leading edge and attention to detail is particularly appealing.

Old Friends  
5625f   On Hold

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This 7 1/4" long, .93 T. oz., coin silver jelly or preserve spoon is marked "R. Smith" over "Newark" for Richard Smith, 1827-1904, generally identified as a jeweler.

A highly decorative item dating from the 1860s, it has a twisted stem joined to a scalloped edge, slightly upturned handle. This has a central shield shaped reserve surrounded by a textured background with wriggle work and bright cut engraved detailing.

The handle backside is plain save for wriggle work around the margins and... Click for details

Cliff Nunn - Antique Silver and Decorative Arts  
20241414-01   Sold

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Offered is an exceptionally fine and earlier (circa 1780-90) American coin silver pictureback tablespoon, marked I*M or I.M twice without serifs. This birdback tablespoon has clear maker's marks and a very well preserved bird, with an unusual and scarce style of bird, facing right with the olive sprig rising over and behind the head. This is sometimes seen with Boston birdbacks, but on the whole this is probably a Pennsylvania (most likely Philadelphia) or New Jersey birdback. It could be by... Click for details

Old Friends  
5622f   $165.00

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An engaging regional period piece, this mug stands 2 13/16" high to the rim, 3 1/8" to the top of the handle, has a top span of 2 1/2" (3 3/4" to the end of the handle), a bottom diameter of 2 1/8", and weighs 3.1 T. oz.

It is stamped on the underside "Currier & Trott," along with "Coin," for the Boston partnership of jewelers and watchmakers with dates from the mid 1820s to the mid 1850s.

The style of this suggests it traces to the 1840s.

It has applied gadroon rims on the top... Click for details

Old Friends  
5620f   $38.00

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Measuring 8 3/8" long and weighing 1.1 T. oz., this relatively plain, c. 1850, serving spoon has a Fiddle handle, high, beveled and rounded, fins off the bowl, and a plain drop on the backside.

Coin silver, it is stamped C[harles]. C[arter] Coleman, for the Worcester, Massachusetts silversmith and jeweler with dates 1844-60. It has a "P (or T) W H" feathered script monogram engraved on the front of the curved handle.

This is finely crafted, with excellent proportion, good balance... Click for details

Old Friends  
5616f   $80.00

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A matched pair, each of these forks measures 7" long, while the two combined weigh 2.35 T. oz.

They are marked "I. Speer" and "Chicago" on the handle reverses.

Isaac Speer began work as a jeweler and watchmaker in Chicago in 1840, engaged in a partnership with Edward Cosper, 1852-53 (see Old Friends item 5463f for a Speer & Cosper ladle), and continued alone thereafter until 1870.

Coin silver, these date from the 1860s and are in a period pattern similar to Gibney's Tuscan and... Click for details

Old Friends  
5611f   $75.00

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Each of these six matching spoons measures 5 7/8" long and is engraved with the same fancy, feathered line script, "AI" monogram. They weigh 2.35 T. oz. the group.

They are stamped "E.E. & S.C. Bailey," for brothers Ebenezer and Samuel, who established a partnership in Claremont, New Hampshire, circa 1825.

Particularly well-crafted and elegantly formed, they have slender, elongated, Fiddle Tipt handles with markedly upturned ends.

The bowls are relatively narrow and long, and... Click for details

Old Friends  
5598f   $46.00

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Zebulon (alternatively Zachariah as noted by Belden in Marks of American Silversmiths) was listed in New York City directories 1815-20 and from 1822-70 in Sag Harbor, on Long Island. He spent 1821-22 in Salisbury, North Carolina as a partner with Edmund Burnham.

The plain, rounded and downturned end with a smooth back, style of this 9 1/4", 1.4 T. oz., coin silver serving spoon dates circa 1820, tracing to his NYC years or even his short period in NC.

The handle has a slight... Click for details

Old Friends  
5596f   $85.00

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A prominent, arguably the dominant, name among mid 19th century New York City retailers (before Tiffany's ascendency), "Ball, Black & Co." marketed a variety of work from important regional makers.

This coin silver piece is a large, 8 3/4" long, 1.9 T. oz., berry or other serving spoon, marked for BB & Co. but is without a maker's identification, and the pattern, a double-lined border with acanthus leaf detailing is otherwise without an attribution so the origin of this piece is not... Click for details

Old Friends  
5594f   $38.00

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Made by the mid 19th century Boston silver manufacturer Farrington & Hunnedwell, this 5 15/16" long, .77 T. oz., coin silver sugar spoon was retailed by Worcester jeweler Benjamin Goddard, whose name, along with the maker's "F&H" mark, appears on the handle backside.

Very much in the manner of its 1860s period, and engagingly so, it has a twisted stem and a flat, shaped-edge, handle that is bright cut and wriggle work engraved in a period design.

The engraved area includes an open reserve... Click for details

Old Friends  
5589f   $44.00

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Measuring 6 7/8" long, and weighing 1.16 T. oz., this piece is stamped "N. Harding & Co." for the mid 19th century Boston firm established by Newell Harding. It is also marked "Pure Coin," which was a standard designation largely used in the New England.

It is a double die struck Olive pattern, meaning the design appears on both sides of the arched and upturned handle.

A jelly or preserve spoon, it has a generously sized, 2 1/4" by 1 1/2" at the widest, shell bowl with... Click for details

Old Friends  
5581f   On Hold

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A 6" long, .9 T. oz., item, this c. 1865, coin silver sugar spoon is stamped "C C S" on the reverse, for the maker, Charles C. Shaver, who worked in Utica, New York during the second half of the 19th century.

The pattern appears on both sides of the handle and features anthemion leaves, along with other period detailing. Dorothy Rainwater in her Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers describes Shaver's designs as "ornamental."

The bowl is a shell form in the manner of other... Click for details

Old Friends  
5579f   On Hold

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Described in Flynt & Fales Heritage Foundation Collection of [New England] Silver as "a man of many alliances," Boston silversmith John B. Jones enjoyed a long and esteemed career.

Flynt & Fales note he began working in 1809 with Richard Ward and continued under many guises that ended with Jones, Shreve, Brown & Co., in 1854. This firm eventually became Boston's renowned jewelry and fine goods retail establishment Shreve, Crump & Low.

This matched pair of 6 1/2" long,... Click for details

Old Friends  
5574f   This item is currently being auctioned

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A high style piece representative of the finest quality silver work generated in mid 19th Boston, this item is a substantial-sized water pitcher.

It stands 11" tall to the highest point of the lofty handle, has a bulbous, eight panel, baluster-shaped body that is 6" across at the widest, sits on a rimmed, 4 1/2" diameter, octagonal base, weighs 25.75 T. oz., and holds four pints (64 ounces) of liquid.

Each of the eight panels is engraved in a delicately rendered leaf and floral... Click for details

Old Friends  
5570f   $46.00

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A pattern that originated with Albert Coles, Jenny Lind established itself as a popular mid 19th century design and was adopted by numerous manufacturers.

This example, a 6 7/8" long, 1.25 T. oz., coin silver jelly or preserve spoon bears the four part pseudo hallmark that John McGrew in his benchmark work Manufacturers' Marks on American Coin Silver attributes to the "Gilbert, Cunningham, Cooper" complex of New York City.

This has a shell form bowl and is engraved "M.... Click for details

Old Friends  
5563f   $65.00

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This 8 1/8" long, 1.67 T. oz., spoon is marked with an "animal head over shield" emblem attributed to James P. Butler, Philadelphia.

It is also stamped with the words "Coin" and "Patent" and the name of the retailer, Philadelphia jeweler "J. Einstein."

Catherine Hollan notes in Philadelphia Silver that Butler was "a member of the extended Butler-Peters-McCarty families" and that he worked as a partner with James Watts for one year, 1867.

The leaf and rosette with an... Click for details