Catalog: Silver: Coin Silver

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Measuring 6 7/8" long, and weighing 1.16 T. oz., this piece is stamped "N...

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 ...

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, 2....

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 moti...

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....

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 ant...

One of William B. Durgin's earliest designs, the pattern on this 5 7/8" long, .64 T. oz., sugar spoon goes by the name Bridal, although it is also referred to as Bow, (Crossed) Ribbon or Knot, taken from the bow and knotted ribbon that appear on the handle front and back sides.

Introduced in the 1860s, it was initially made in coin silver and continued in production long enough to arc the transition to sterling, as examples in both standards exist (se...

A typical design of its mid 1860s period, this 7 3/16" long, 1.0 T. oz., jelly or preserve spoon has a plum-shaped bowl with a twisted shank that leads to a disk-shaped, pointed end, handle with a slightly tipt backside.

The handle obverse is extensively engraved in a fine, dense, bright cut and wriggle work, pattern that includes a fancy, feathered script, "MCO" monogram in the open reserve area.

It is stamped "James E. Caldwell & Co." on the backside for the renowned Philadelphia ...

This 6" long, coin silver, teaspoon is one of five matched pieces that weigh .55 T. oz. (17 grams) each.

It has a Tipt end handle with something of a Fiddle shaped shank with tall, narrow and beveled, fins off the bowl, and a pointed end bowl. The backside heel has a plain drop.

This one, along with the other four, has a fancy, feathered script, "SEA" monogram set sideways on the handle front.

Marked "Coin" on the reverse, it is also stamped "S.P. Bell," who was likely the ...

The Baltimore Museum of Art volume Baltimore Silver notes that Andrew Ellicott Warner "is the best known of a family of silversmiths which included his father Cuthbert, brother Thomas, and son Andrew Ellicott Warner, Jr."

This example of his work is a 7" long, weighty at 1.3 T. oz., place or dessert spoon.

The marks on this, "A.E. Warner" along with the peculiar to Baltimore "11" assay stamp (midway between coin and sterling silver), is one of seven documented in the above reference...