Catalog: Silver: Sterling: Flatware

length 10 1/8 inches, weight 3.34 Troy ounces, ornate four letter script monogram on reverse, excellent condition.

The blade features a restrained and well executed bit of engraving (please see third enlargement) with brite-cut foliage and shaded flowers.

or jelly cake knife, if you'd prefer, length 9 1/8 inches, weight 1.84 oz. Troy, excellent condition save for a long shallow scratch on reverse of blade (please see second enlargement), monogrammed in script on reverse.

The obverse features a refined bit of engraving, done by a skilled and steady hand.

length 6 5/8 inches, plated steel blades, very minor pinpricks at ends which we've exaggerated in enlargement number four but fine overall condition, monogrammed "C."

As collectors will know, if any of them remain above ground, knives in this elegant old Durgin pattern are scarce.

length 5 7/8 inches, monogrammed as shown, very light pattern wear but fine overall condition, weight 1.38 Troy ounces, and as we say here in Boston, "it's a baaahgin."

Compare our price with the folks who Replace your stuff @70.00

length 5 1/4 inches, weight 1.0 oz Troy, excellent condition, no monogram.

This piece is not commonly found.

retailed by Hardy & Hayes, length 7 3/8 inches, weight 15 Troy ounces, monogrammed "C", fine condition.

If pressed as to why you, dear reader, should buy these Iris fish forks as opposed to some others listed elsewhere on the interwebz, I'd have to say that ours are probably in better condition. If pressed even harder, I'd confess that these are also attractively priced.

length 3 3/4 inches, weight .77 oz. Troy, no monogram, fine condition.

May I offer our apologies, dear reader, for having previously catalogued these as "Acorn"? Old age is taking its toll, here.

length 10 3/8 inches, weight 3.48 Troy ounces, no monogram, excellent condition.

As our friend Don Soeffing has recounted in "The Battle of the Birds" (Silver Magazine, November/December 1995), production of this pattern was short lived, because W & H lost this particular battle against Tiffany for infringement of their design pattern...

length 7 5/8 inches, weight 1.37 Troy ounces (each), monogrammed as shown, fine condition, scarce.

length 12 7/8 inches, weight 4.11 Troy ounces, no monogram, excellent condition.

With the added cachet (we were going to say "snob appeal", but then remembered that our faithful readers, all two of them who remain, aren't snooty) of a Cartier retailer's mark.

Bought new, it costs just about as much as a small Mercedes, but here what a deal!!

length 8 1/4 inches, weight 4.85 Troy ounces, design detail in fine condition, bowl retains more than half of its original gilding, monogrammed as shown. Retailed by Boston's own late lamented Bigelow Kennard & Company, a fine, elegant store which many of my customers are old enough to remember with affection...

length 7 3/4 inches, three letter script monogram (reverse) as shown in enlargement number five, exceptionally fine condition, weight 1.36 oz. Troy, the blade well engraved with trailing bellflower decoration.

Length 5 7/8 inches, weight 1.18 Troy ounces, excellent condition, monogrammed "B" (obverse, Old English).

One of Frank Smith's better designs, and one of Yours Truly's favorite patterns...

length 5 1/8 inches, weight .47 oz. Troy, monogrammed "M.F.W.", fine condition with traces of original gilding on bowl and along handle.

One of these days, a more scholarly colleague will reveal the true name of this pattern...

length six inches, weight 1.00 Troy ounces, no monogram, excellent condition, retailed by Wendell & Roberts.

Silver scholar and author D. Albert Soeffing describes this portrait as "a rather plain woman," and though it lacks the sophistication of some Medallions, there is a certain undeniable charm to her face. A great entry level item for the budding silver collector, should such a creature still exist...

Gale & Mosely, New York circa 1830, double struck-- for the uninitiated, this means the pattern is both front and back, length just shy of 8 1/2 inches, some very slight tine wear on a few (we've pictured the worst one in enlargement number four) but superb overall condition, weight 30.74 Troy ounces (!!) or 2.79 each on average, no monogram.

One would be hard-pressed indeed to find a better set of dinner forks.

length 8 3/8 inches, weight 3.09 Troy ounces, no monogram, slight wear to gilding on tines but very nearly benchmark condition, retailed by Sheafer and Lloyd of Pittsburgh.

This pattern has always been a personal favorite. Note the expressiveness of the eyes, which you may examine up close in photo number three.

engraved "Kansas City" in bowl, length 5 7/8 inches, weight 1.30 Troy ounces, excellent condition.

Place pieces are much rarer than servers in this grand old Durgin pattern whose name is a subject of some disagreement, which leads me to believe that not many were produced.