$1650.00
One would be hard-pressed indeed to find a better set of dinner forks.
This pattern has always been a personal favorite. Note the expressiveness of the eyes, which you may examine up close in photo number three.
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.
There is a file cut (visible from side and reverse only; see fourth photo) which we've pictured in excruciating detail, and some light pitting on the blade which we've mostly polished out and probably will address a bit more, as time allows. Aside from this, the condition is excellent.
P.O.R.
This spoon is not monogrammed and does not appear ever to have been, which is most unusual for early American silver.
Faithful readers of our little web page know we never tire of mentioning that Burt was a substantial and by all reports jovial fellow who weighed three hundred and eighty pounds.
Come ye citizens of Portsmouth and reclaim thy heritage!!
If the hostess gift still lives, then this (and a pound of great coffee) would make a fine one...
French silver from this period is quite scarce. Price is for the total of eight pieces.
Born in Winchester, England (1839), Mockford trained as a miller. He originally established himself in Tompkins County as a baker and flour merchant, then a jewelery pedlar, and finally a retail jeweler. For a peek back in time at how his mill would have looked in 1890, see photo number five.
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...
$125.00
Don't get me wrong, we love a nice 1820's piece of S.O.W. ever so much, but you'll never see this amount of detail in a sheaf which some brawny silversmith made by whacking a swage with a big hammer.
Scroll down our main catalogue page a bit and you'll find two others, monogrammed and slightly more moderate in price, but equally functional.
$95.00
Chrysanthemum patterns were wildly popular in the 1880's. Tiffany, Gorham, Shiebler and other manufacturers all produced them, but this is certainly among the best of these designs.
We could only wish that it had a fine old family name but alas there is no engraving and happily no removal.