Catalog: Silver: Sterling

with sea creatures and granulated "sand" decoration, length 6 1/4 inches, weight 1.73 Troy ounces, excellent original condition, no monogram.

One factor which ultimately contributed to the demise of his firm was that George Shiebler's best designs were difficult to execute and costly to produce. Not many of these forks were made, and the surviving examples vary in quality and condition...

height 7 1/2 inches, width across handle 5 1/4 inches, weight 18 Troy ounces, capacity one quart, marked as shown in fourth enlargement. A classic, organic shape made famous by the Jensen Silversmithy (and featured on the dj of Janet Drucker's popular book), this design was conceived by Rohde in 1925, but did not enter production until 1930 because it was considered too radical.

This lovely example is entirely hand wrought, and dates from 1948...

a sugar sifter length 7 1/8 inches; weight 1.74 oz. Troy, and a scalloped engraved bowl preserve spoon length 9 inches; weight 2 Troy ounces. Both pieces are marked only "STERLING," (attributed to Wendt) have fully gilt matte finish bowls and are in immaculate condition. We do not recall having seen this pattern before.

height 5 1/2; length across handle 6 1/4 inches, weight 14.1 Troy ounces, the body richly chased with rose flowers, foliage and a band of acanthus leaves below, the realistically formed wrythen grapevine handle fastened together with silver tacks (see second enlargement), engraved "Minnie / June 2nd / 1875" in cartouche under spout, capacity one quart, fine condition.

If only we knew a bit more about Minnie, a good tale might be told, but alas we know nothing of this lass.

length 9 3/4 inches, weight 5.38 Troy ounces, monogrammed "F" (reverse), a bit brighter than we'd like but still with minimal wear to the high points. Marked with Gorham trademark, star, sterling, copyrighted (twice!!), and datemark for 1886.

Even without the exquisitely engraved blade this would have been a rare find, so we're doubly pleased. Note: although this server is hollow handled, we do not believe it to be weighted.

height 3; diameter 4 inches, weight 7.11 Troy ounces, excellent original condition, monogrammed as shown in second enlargement. A great design which makes use of both applied and repoussé'd decoration.

These come and go, but I don't think we've ever owned one where the chasing is so crisp and the original oxidation hasn't been at least partially removed by some overzealous owner...

length 9 5/8 inches, weight 4.86 Troy ounces, monogrammed "M" (obverse, Old English), gilt tines with a bit of table wear to gold wash on underside but excellent overall condition.

Most American silver manufacturers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries offered some variant of the Chrysanthemum pattern. As faithful readers of our little web page will know, here is my favorite one of them all...

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

London, 1993. Contemporary and of the finest quality, height three inches, weight an astonishing 10 Troy ounces the pair, one minor abrasion as shown but excellent overall condition. A perfect gift to grace the table of your equine aquaintances.

For those who favor comparison shopping, a similar though inferior pair by this same maker weighing only 5.7 oz. Troy sold at Julien's for 875.00 (See catalogue of the Ronnie & Jo Wood collection, 10/26/2012, lot 308).

Danvers, MA circa 1930, height 3 1/4; top diameter 2 5/8 inches, weight 5.75 Troy ounces, no monogram, some very light scratches but excellent overall condition.

Though his work is ardently sought by collectors, Porter's output was not always of consistent quality. His soldering was occasionally sloppy, and his hammer marks were at times random. Here, the seams are nearly invisible, and the art peen hammering (please see third enlargement) is laid out masterfully along the vertical axis...

length 8 inches (!!), weight 10.22 Troy ounces, a few extremely minor scratches in bowls (see first enlargement, 3rd spoon from top) but excellent overall condition, marked "Tiffany & Co STERLING PAT 1884. M", monogrammed as shown.

We suspect that not many of these spoons were produced, and many of those that survive are looking tired and worn. These will do your collection proud, and also enable you to take a very generous mouthful of soup!

length 7 1/2 inches, weight 6.56 Troy ounces, monogrammed script "P," one small pinprick dent as shown in enlargement number two, but very fine overall condition.

length 10 1/8 inches, weight 5.9 Troy ounces, gilt tines, excellent condition, marked and monogrammed as shown in fourth and fifth enlargements.

Though the gilding was probably a bit brighter in 1902, this is still an especially impressive example. For those of you who are not familiar with weights, 5.9 Troy ounces will feel wonderfully heavy in the hand!

Compare on ebay (item 175280479685) at 799.00

4 1/8 by 2 5/8 inches (fits credit or business cards easily), weight 3.5 Troy ounces, no monogram, excellent original condition, model number 19D (please see third photo for marks).

This was probably a custom made item.

We've examined both doggies carefully with a high power loupe, and they appear to be 14k. No, we're not going to test them...

with decorative bright cut engraving, length 5 3/8 inches, total Troy weight 2.64 ounces, monogrammed as shown in third enlargement. My apologies for only picturing one here, but they are all identical.

These are benchmark examples, looking today just as they did upon leaving the factory on Elmwood Avenue some hundred and fifty years ago. They are engraved (slightly differently) in an exceptionally well designed and well executed manner upon all three sides...

length 6 1/8 inches, monogrammed obverse as shown in third photo, some very light wear but fine overall condition, total Troy weight 10.31 ounces.

Other web pages which will remain nameless are still hoping to get the big bucks for these, but we are eminently realistic.

unmarked but probably Scandinavian circa 1880, diameter 5 7/8 inches, enamel appears to be perfect and we've found no breaks in the silver. Add a zero on to our price and you still couldn't buy a new one of comparable quality...

height 6 inches, widest section of base 5 1/8 inches, superb color and condition, monogram "GVL" (?) script obverse. We've bought and sold many Gorham novelty items, but this is certainly among the best of its class...