posted 04-24-2006 08:55 AM            

witzhall posted 04-24-2006 07:29 AM in the New Members' forum

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My father is still very much alive at 92, so I enjoy my silver inheritance at his house! Among other items there that I love is this Tiffany salad set.

I don't know anything to speak of about Tiffany but the pattern is really beautiful, I think - so different from the plain 18th century silver that I'm more familiar with. I'm hoping that someone can tell me the name of the pattern and when it might have been made. I think the set was a wedding present to my grandparents in 1912. TIA!

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This post was moved here from the New Members' Forum.

posted 04-24-2006 06:41 PM            

Silver designs of this kind are representative of the Aesthetic (or Japanesque) style. For over 200 years, the Japanese hardly communicated or traded with Western countries. By the 1850's Commodore Perry of the U.S. Naval fleet had arrived in Japan to continue with America's (up-to-then failed) efforts to negotiate a treaty to encourage this. Perry more or less opened up Japan's ports by force, threatening to engage them if refused. Since Japan hadn't kept up with the West's developments in warfare technology, the Japanese fleets, if any, were laughably inferior to the American gunboats, and the Japanese were forced to concede (These events later lead to Japan's "learning" of Western ways, and the country's later invasion campaigns of east Asia, and even eventually lead to Pearl Harbor—Though that's too broad and unrelated a topic for discussion here).

As a result of the Treaty of Kanagawa and other agreements, Japan would communicate and trade with the West, and reveal a number of design styles and alloying techniques that were previously unknown in the West, i.e. mokume, shakudo, shibuichi, etc. This created quite a stir in the world of Western silver design, and during the 1870's and 1880's, this style became very fashionable.

Typical features of Aesthetic Movement silver are hammered finishes, nature-inspired designs (plants, bugs, etc.), and sometimes applied mixed-metals and mixed-metal alloys.

No Aesthetic Period silver is especially common, but holloware items of this style, especially those with mixed-metals, are exceptionally rare and highly desirable. I've handled relatively few (holloware) pieces myself, but all were generally high-quality pieces.

The only Aesthetic holloware I can presently show to demonstrate other works in this style, is this Dominick & Haff water pitcher, which now belongs to a local doctor who sometimes visits with me to show me other really amazing pieces in his collection.

The chased dragonfly, spider, and plants, as well as the hammered surface, are very representative of the style.

posted 04-24-2006 10:20 PM            

In light of what you just said, I think that you would find "Silver In America 1840-1940" by Charles Venable interesting and enlightening It's probably the best book on 19th and early 20th century American silver and it covers some of the aspects that you just mentioned. I highly recommend it.