Small ladle with shell bowl - SMP Silver Salon Forums

SM Publications

Silver Salon Forums - The premier site for discussing Silver.

SMP | Silver Salon Forums | SSF - Guidelines | SSF - FAQ | Silver Sales

The Silver Salon Forums
Since 1993
Over 11,793 threads & 64,769 posts !!

General Silver Forum

Silver Salon internal search
or

REGISTER (click here)

How to Post Photos

SMP Silver Salon Forums
tline

General Silver Forum
tline3

Small ladle with shell bowl

profile | register | preferences | faq | search

SSFFriend: Email This Page to Someone!

next newest topic | next oldest topic

Author	Topic: Small ladle with shell bowl
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 02-11-2012 12:08 AM [01-3003] This small 7” sauce ladle puzzles me. At first glance it looks like an American coffin style ladle with a small shell as the bowl. The shell is neatly riveted to the handle on top of an attractive silver rim. However, I cannot find any American Brown that used an incuse mark at any time period much less a Brown from around 1800 when the coffin style was popular. Also the chamfered or beveled edges of the handle also seem unusual for an American piece. The dealer thought that this ladle was from Europe and did not place a date on it. Any thoughts on its origin? IP: Logged
swarter Moderator Posts: 2920 Registered: May 2003	posted 02-11-2012 12:46 PM Cowrie shells on American silver are rare, but not unknown. However, if no possible maker can be found for this period, consider the possibility that the shell was added later to an unsigned American ladle, and marked by the one who either made or sold the altered piece - jeweler's or retailer's marks may go unnoticed or unrecorded in the silver literature. [This message has been edited by swarter (edited 02-11-2012).] IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 02-12-2012 10:52 AM Thanks for the thought Swarter. Your scenario is a good possibility as to how a cowry shell became the bowl on a coffin-like handle. The construction is interesting as the handle is one piece and is attached to the shell with three rivets. The fourth rivet shown only attaches the silver rim to the shell and does not pierce the drop of the handle. There is a fifth rivet on the opposite side of the shell that also holds the silver rim in place. On a different subject I have always thought script marks that were made in the intaglio style were more attractive that block letters imprinted in the incuse manner. The incuse style with block letters seems to have started in the third decade of the 1800s and gradually became the norm. Was there a technical reason for this change? Perhaps the die was easier to fashion or maybe the imprint was easier to make in the silver. Of course, it may be I prefer the earlier marks because they are on earlier silver. Sometimes it is hard to isolate why something is attractive. IP: Logged
wev Moderator Posts: 4121 Registered: Apr 99	posted 02-12-2012 11:12 AM The change to incuse marks was a bit of all those things. The punch was easier to make after the introduction of pantographic cutters and was a one step process, rather than two, so they were cheaper. They also required less drive to punch the piece and caused less distortion of the metal. IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 02-12-2012 02:33 PM Thanks Wev. Thomas Jefferson used a pantograph, however in those days he called it a polygraph. He used one for making copies of his correspondence. IP: Logged
Polly Posts: 1970 Registered: Nov 2004	posted 02-19-2012 10:57 AM I used to think it would be nice to marry a Mr. Graf and become polygraph. (In the event, I fell in love with a man whose name didn't make for a good pun, so I kept my name.) IP: Logged
wev Moderator Posts: 4121 Registered: Apr 99	posted 02-19-2012 02:28 PM The most famous was Linn Boyd Benton's engraving pantograph, which he developed in the 1870s and later brought to the newly formed American Type Founders in 1882. Master templates were inserted in the top and traced by the operator, cutting the punch blank held in the bottom bed. It was accurate enough to cut the Lord's Prayer on the face of a 12 point (1/6") square body. I have some samples cast in the 30s that print and read perfectly. IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 02-25-2012 06:04 PM Polly Graf does have a nice ring to it. Names with secondary meanings are fun and I admire those so named what wear their name with delight and joy. One of the best ones I have come across was a man named Forest Green Moss. What greater imagery could one hope for? I must admit that I have always had difficulty in remembering names so perhaps I like unusual names as they are easier for me to remember. IP: Logged

All times are ET	next newest topic \| next oldest topic
Administrative Options: Close Topic \| Archive/Move \| Delete Topic
	Hop to:

Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.46a

^1. Public Silver Forums (open Free membership) - anyone with a valid e-mail address may register. Once you have received your Silver Salon Forum password, and then if you abide by the Silver Salon Forum Guidelines, you may start a thread or post a reply in the New Members' Forum. New Members who show a continued willingness to participate, to completely read and abide by the Guidelines will be allowed to post to the Member Public Forums.
Click here to Register for a Free password

^2. Private Silver Salon Forums (invitational or $ donation membership) - The Private Silver Salon Forums require registration and special authorization to view, search, start a thread or to post a reply. Special authorization can be obtained in one of several ways: by Invitation; Annual $ Donation; or via Special Limited Membership. For more details click here (under development).

^3. Administrative/Special Private Forums (special membership required) - These forums are reserved for special subjects or administrative discussion. These forums are not open to the public and require special authorization to view or post.

| Home | Order | The Guide to Evaluating Gold & Silver Objects | The Book of Silver