Catalog: Silver: Coin Silver

There were numerous members of the Pitkin family attached to the silver industry in Hartford and East Hartford, Connecticut over a span of many decades in the 19th century.

This 7 1/4" long, 1.1 T. oz., place, aka dessert or oval soup, spoon, is marked "W.L. & H.E. Pitkin," for the partnership between William Leonard and Horace Edward, 1863-94. Given this is also stamped "Coin," it traces to the earliest years of the pairing...

This basket stands 4 7/8" tall to the rim, reaches 7 1/2" to the top of the upraised swing handle, has a top diameter of 5 1/4", stands on a footed base that is 3 1/2" across, and weighs 9.4 T. oz.

Solid coin silver and dating circa 1860, it was made by Wood & Hughes whose "WwH" emblem is stamped on the underside.

It could be a sugar basket for large tea set, or perhaps a sweet meat server.

Very much a period piece, it incorporates design elements popular in the period...

Standing 2 7/8" high, with a top diameter of 2 3/8" and a bottom diameter of 1 7/8", a maximum span of 3 5/8" to the end of the handle, and weighing a relatively light but proportional to the overall size, 2.8 T. oz., this mug is marked "WwH" for Wood and Hughes, New York City, and "900/1000" for coin silver.

Baluster form, it has a beaded base with smaller beading encircling the top rim...

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he worked as a silversmith in the 1820s, and apparently with a short-lived presence on Nantucket Island, Masschusetts, William P. Stanton established himself in business in 1829 with his brother, Henry, in Rochester, New York.

This pair of 5 3/4" long, .9 T. oz., coin silver tongs are marked "W.P. & H. Perry" for that partnership.

Their plain, angular, fiddle shaped arms date them from early in the partnership, c. 1830...

Born in 1827 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, William P. Jones apprenticed with William Moulton IV of the renowned family of silversmiths, as did contemporary, Anthony Francis Towle.

The two men established a partnership, which through a series of transitions eventually became Lunt Silversmiths, thus there is a long silversmithing lineage represented in this 6 3/16" long, .5 T. oz., sugar, or possibly small jelly, spoon marked "W. P...

This preserve or jelly spoon measures 6 7/8" long and weighs 1.0 T. oz.

It is a mid 19th century, coin silver, piece in a French Thread aka Fiddle Thread pattern.

The 2 1/4" bowl is shell form with a scalloped and notched edge and high, rounded, shoulders at the join with the handle.

Never monogrammed, it is in excellent condition, absent polishing wear, free of dents, bends, or tears in the bowl, and with a pleasing patina...

As documented by Flynt & Fales in The Heritage Foundation Collection of Silver, Eleazer Wyer, born in Boston in 1786, learned goldsmithing from his father (of the same name), and his sister married silversmith Timothy Keith, so the trade was clearly a family tradition.

Eleazer relocated to Portland, Maine about 1806, and from 1814-18 was in partnership there with Charles Farley...

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...