posted 10-24-1999 02:31 AM            

Dating
Most authors give the date as 1902. Dolan claims that the pattern is currently being recast. Can anyone confirm this assertion?

Pieces Available

Item length our cost
Teaspoon 6 " $115.00
Pastry Fork 6 " $115.00

We also have a demitasse for which we paid $65.00

We purchased the teaspoon nearly three years ago and have been attempting to acquire more place pieces ever since. We have acquired a pastry fork and a demi-tasse spoon. We have been offered many beautiful serving pieces but no regular forks and knives or a soup spoon. Indeed all the items we have been offered would be likely "gift" items rather than main line place settings.
Hagan is normally careful to point out patterns that were not produced as a full line (n.f.l.), and notes only that the pattern is "multi-motif". Dolan goes to the trouble to give prices for forks and knives as though they actually exist. Turner shows two versions of the motif, but does not state what pieces are represented. Martin is silent on the pattern, although Alvin was covered thoroughly in the first edition of the Book of Silver.

In our three years of collecting we have presented our want list to every major silver dealer in the country and been to hundreds of antique shows from San Francisco to Miami. It would be one thing if we hadn't yet bought a fork or knife but it is quite another that we have never even seen one.

This leads us to question whether such place pieces are available even though the references above indicate they should be.

Comments
We would be very grateful indeed if anyone out there could report even a sighting of a place fork. We would be interested in the opinions of dealers and collectors regarding whether place pieces might exist.