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Gorham Chantilly Corn Fork

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Author	Topic: Gorham Chantilly Corn Fork
R. Burns Posts: 2 Registered: Aug 2005	posted 08-15-2005 06:28 PM [01-2462] Have recently purchased Chantilly Corn Fork with all the proper markings. How were these used? One can not eat with it, the tines are too sharp. The tines do not seem to be strong enough to cut and rake kernels off the cob. And the open work in the bowl would allow kernels to fall through if ussed as a server. Any help with this would be appreciated. IP: Logged
Bob and Carol Carnighan Posts: 63 Registered: Apr 99	posted 08-15-2005 07:13 PM Chantilly corn forks are very rare. We would very much like to see an image. IP: Logged
R. Burns Posts: 2 Registered: Aug 2005	posted 08-15-2005 07:23 PM Sorry, do not have digital and if I did, I wouldn't know how to send image. IP: Logged
Ulysses Dietz Moderator Posts: 1265 Registered: May 99	posted 08-16-2005 08:59 AM I'd like to know what a corn fork was supposedly used for. If we know they're rare, then we know why Gorham made them. Or, possibly, is it just a fabricated object, like a "baked potato fork." I was horrified to see that Replacements Ltd. will MAKE a baked potato fork for you (meaning they'll butcher a good fork to make this nonsense). So, what's a corn fork? IP: Logged
Paul Lemieux Posts: 1792 Registered: Apr 2000	posted 08-16-2005 10:47 AM I do not know if I have heard of a corn fork before. Sounds interesting. What are the dimensions? From your description, I am picturing a pierced bowl with tines on the end or one side. How many tines, and what shape is the bowl? Could it possibly be a cucumber or tomato server? One of the other major replacement services will also fabricate "relish scoops," "cheese servers," and "condiment ladles" from teaspoons. All are ugly as sin, with too shiny surfaces and awkward proportions. IP: Logged
carlaz Posts: 239 Registered: Jan 2001	posted 08-16-2005 12:51 PM The corn fork was pictured in the 1914 Gorham Chantilly catalog (reprint)on page 412. There is also an image of the corn fork in the Ostenberg's book "Yesterdays Silver for Today's Table" on page 188. It is a three tined fork that is pierced (4 piercings) and the fork has two smaller points in between the tines. It is said to measure somewhere between 6 1/2" and 6 3/4". Please note that in the Ostenberg book, the corn fork in not identified on that page specifically but it is the 7th fork in from the left. ------------------ CarlaZ IP: Logged
doc Posts: 728 Registered: Jul 2003	posted 08-16-2005 02:09 PM Here is a photo of a Chantilly corn fork. Based on the design, my guess is that it may have been poked into the end of a cob of corn to hold the corn, similar to corn picks today. IP: Logged
wev Moderator Posts: 4121 Registered: Apr 99	posted 08-16-2005 02:13 PM Which would seem to me a rather poor design, having more to do with marketing than common sense. IP: Logged
carlaz Posts: 239 Registered: Jan 2001	posted 08-16-2005 04:25 PM I actually think the fork was designed to be used to eat the corn once it is off the cob. The shortened tines and decorated and pierced bowl would allow one dine on corn in an elegant yet constructive manner. Just a thought! IP: Logged
Marc Posts: 414 Registered: Jun 2002	posted 08-17-2005 01:11 AM Hi guys, I remember the corn fork I sold a few years ago had a later patent date on it than the "1895" date on most chantilly.. I was astonished when it sold for $500. But it did go to a collector, so it was right. Hope this helps.. Thanks. Marc IP: Logged
Ulysses Dietz Moderator Posts: 1265 Registered: May 99	posted 08-17-2005 10:12 AM Corn on the cob was not considered a genteel food, and therefore beyond the pale of silver users, although it hit a certain fashionability at the end of the 19th century for casual dining. The reason there are no antique silver corn picks is that nice people just didn't eat it -- yet. Corn kernels present the same sort of problem that peas do; how to keep them on a fork? The corn fork as seen here would probably have suited peas equally well: the victorian marketing director's brilliant idea on another way to sell more silver! IP: Logged
Paul Lemieux Posts: 1792 Registered: Apr 2000	posted 08-17-2005 12:23 PM I think the earliest corn picks I have seen are early 20th century. They are steel picks with figural hollow sterling corn cob handles. I think we have all seen them. A magazine article or book identified some Shiebler Homeric two-tined forks as corn picks, but I really think they are berry forks. Marc, I am curious, what date did your Chantilly corn fork have? I have never seen Chantilly with a patent date other than 1895. IP: Logged
Richard Kurtzman Moderator Posts: 768 Registered: Aug 2000	posted 08-18-2005 05:26 PM Hi Guys, I have to disagree with you on the time frame for the advent of corn picks or corn holders. I believe that they date to at least the 1880s. Look at page 305 in the fourth edition of Rainwater and you will see pictured a set of six all sterling Shiebler medallion holders. I have also had an all sterling set by Mauser in the same shape with ears of corn forming the flat handles. In regard to the more common form with steel picks, I remember seeing them pictured in one of my 1890s catalogs. If I can retrieve it I will post it. IP: Logged
Ulysses Dietz Moderator Posts: 1265 Registered: May 99	posted 08-19-2005 03:30 PM I'd love to see that posted--because it makes sense. Corn picks or holders would be the ideal solution to the embarrassing physicality of eating corn on the cob...so logically they should have been invented in the 1880s...when middle-class people first tried to figure out how to eat it without disgracing themselves. IP: Logged
wev Moderator Posts: 4121 Registered: Apr 99	posted 08-19-2005 04:52 PM I just happened upon this patent for a corn spoon: Considering what havoc could be wrought if you weren't paying attention while taking a mouthful, I doubt this was a big seller. IP: Logged
dragonflywink Posts: 993 Registered: Dec 2002	posted 10-28-2007 05:01 PM 1878 patent for an Implement for Holding Hot Corn: IP: Logged

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