Old Friends  
1065f   $ 60 HOLD

click for details

This mid 19th century item is marked "F & H" flanked by a caret on either side, for Boston's Farrington & Hunnewell Company. It is a 6 7/8" long coin silver master butter knife. It has a twisted shank, with a broad, scalloped handle end. Although not particularly heavy at approximately 1.0 T. oz., the piece has a solid feel. The twisted section seems especially robust. The blade and handle are both monogrammed in matching period scroll and leaf design elements, and have central circles. Th... Click for details

North Hill Antiques  
890   $75

click for details

Downturned fiddle handle, large square shoulders, faint incised pointed-arch drop on bowl back, reverse tipt, ornate feathered script mono P M M J on front; 9-1/2" in length, 2 T oz. in weight. Condition is excellent throughout.

North Hill Antiques  
889   $750

click for details

With 3"-long cast acorn nips enveloped in oak leaves; arms embossed with grapes and leaves, and a feathered script mono M M in a cartouche on bend. Overall length is 7-1/8" and weight, at 89 grams, is just short of 3 T oz. Condition throughout is minty.

Old Friends  
1048f   $ 115

click for details

This pair of tongs are substantial. The measure 5 3/4" long, are 1 1/4" wide at the arch, and weigh 1.8 T. oz. The style is without question Boston from the third quarter of the 19th century. This origin and date is confirmed by the retailer's stamp, "Crosby, Morse & Foss," a partnership which dates narrowly from 1869 to 1875. They are also marked "925" for sterling, but less than ten years earlier they would have been to a coin silver standard, which many pieces in this genre are. The arms... Click for details

North Hill Antiques  
884   $150

click for details

Downturned fiddle handle, pointed shoulders, slight reverse rib, feathered script mono M W P on front; 7-1/8" long. Condition is excellent. The eagle pseudo accompanying the maker's mark is attributed by McGrew to Wallace

Old Friends  
1021f   $ 185

click for details

It seemed to be a mid 19th century practice to create large cheese scoops, and this example made by Gorham in Grecian follows that mode. It measures 9 3/8" long and weighs approximately 2.3 T. oz. In keeping with the pattern, the shank is tubular (and solid), with the fan or leaf element of the design surmounting the end. The scoop itself presents rather elegantly, with a long, slender shoulder area, and high, sweeping sides on the relatively demurely-scaled working portion. This is entirely... Click for details

North Hill Antiques  
689   $650

click for details

Forward-tipt fiddle handle, c1850-60 -- high flared shoulders, feathered script mono McK on front; 12-3/4" long, 4-1/4" oval bowl, 6+ T oz. in weight. Test scar on back of handle, otherwise condition is excellent. John Campbell, alone and in partnership with Wyman and others, ran a jewelry store in Montgomery through most of the decade of the 1850s.

North Hill Antiques  
495   $150

click for details

Crisp basket at handle end and 12-lobe shell drop on bowl back, flared shoulders, shaded script mono C A on front; 6-1/4" long, 1-3/4" x 1-3/8" oval bowl. Condition is near-mint. The series of marks tell an interesting story. According to McGrew's "Manufacturers Marks," the ladle was made in the NYC shop of I.W. Forbes and retailed by Chauncey Johnson in Albany. The incised D is a quality sign often used in Albany. Neat piece.

North Hill Antiques  
888   Set of 6 $400

click for details

Pinched-waist fiddle handle, c1850 -- pointed shoulders, feathered script mono A on front; 9-1/8" long, 11.5 T oz. Condition is excellent.

North Hill Antiques  
105B   $150

click for details

Pointed-end handle, long drop on bowl back, shaded script mono L R on front; 9-1/8" in length. Condition is excellent, extended bowl tip unworn.

Old Friends  
987mt   $ 275

click for details

Measuring 9" long and weighing 2.2 T. oz., this berry or other serving spoon dates from the mid 1860's. The pattern is Saxon Stag by Gorham. In this instance, the retailer was Starr & Marcus of NYC, as marked. The pattern consists of a cast and applied stag's head set on a shank that is essentially the same as Gorham's Byzantine. Otherwise the piece is without additional design elements save for the scalloped and grooved bowl which is something of a stylized shell form. There are very sligh... Click for details

North Hill Antiques  
883   $125

click for details

Downturned fiddle handle, c1850 -- square shoulders, drop on bowl back, reverse tipt, gothic mono C on front; 6-1/2" long, 1-1/2" round bowl, good weight. Condition is near-mint.

North Hill Antiques  
282   $125

click for details

Tapered handle from end to bowl, unique (?) shovel bowl, 4-1/4" in length. Condition is near-mint throughout. Never before seen this type of fluted bowl. Neat.

Old Friends  
945f   $ 225

click for details

This coin silver pie server is large, measuring 10 3/8" long overall, and with a blade that is 4 5/8" by 2 7/8". It is also heavy, weighing 2.9 T. oz. It was made by Syracuse's Bunnell and Shreuder (1853-57), whose eagle/BS/arm pseudo hallmark is imprinted on the reverse. It is also stamped with the letters "M.F. & C.H.S." for Mortimer F. & Charles H. Stilwell, Rochester, New York retailers, 1837-66. The pattern is Laurel, which is somewhat reminiscent of Olive, but with a floral rather than... Click for details

North Hill Antiques  
103B   $1500

click for details

This is a huge piece -- 15-3/8" long. It has an oval-end handle, which ordinarily means that it was made c1790. But circumstances suggest that it was probably made 10 years earlier. Here is what we can glean from the literature: In Stamford, Jarvis was a silversmith and blacksmith. He was also a British loyalist and, at the end of the Revolution in 1783, he fled to New Brunswick. There he was a merchant, says Belden. John Langdon, in "Canadian Silversmiths," adds that "Records do not indicat... Click for details

Old Friends  
932f   $ 60

click for details

"Pure coin," as this 5 7/8" long, moderate weight sugar spoon is marked, is a mid 19th century term generally associated with the Boston area, and indeed that is the case with this. It is stamped "A. Stowell" for the Boston retailer, while this Strawberry pattern is an early design made by Durgin of Concord, New Hampshire. The one other mark is "Patent." It has a shell bowl and an Old English "S" monogram on the reverse. The condition is excellent. There is no visible wear, with the strawbe... Click for details