posted 03-07-2007 08:47 PM            

I also have a cheese scoop which looks very similar to Renaissance, yet the decoration is acid-etched rather than die-struck. I wonder if this was a custom design, simply a variation of Renaissance, or something like a prototype.

posted 03-08-2007 05:14 PM            

Durgin's work before the bird mark seems to have been stamped WM B DURGIN or had no mark at all. Interestingly, my Renaissance lunch fork is stamped with the bird and the "WM B. DURGIN" mark. Perhaps this piece was made just as he acquired the new mark.

As for your Strawberry pieces, there is a reference somewhere (I think it's Turner) that lists the pattern's date of introduction as 1874. However, I completely disagree with this date and feel that Strawberry is actually circa 1860-1865.

posted 03-11-2007 04:04 PM            

I have seen three or four pieces of RENAISSANCE in the past year or two, all serving pieces and all with the same monster as on your cream soup. I guess I did not realize that it was a multi-motif pattern, though it makes sense that it would be. It is very scarce, regardless! We currently have a cheese scoop with the actual die-struck pattern, and it is the same as the one on the cream soup.

As for Durgin marks, they did actually have another very early mark that I have only seens on pieces of STRAWBERRY. It is basically a 925 in a shield, though I'm afraid I do not have a picture handy. It probably predates the bird, and was clearly not used for very long.

Finally, the pattern know as Whiting's ARMOR, which I have long suspected to have been made by someone else prior to Whiting, was in fact produced by Durgin, in coin silver. I still suspect that another New York maker may have produced a version, but Durgin did make ARMOR.

posted 03-13-2007 08:50 AM            

That said, I have and have seen pieces of ARMOR marked 925, and I believe 925 PATENT in one case. At one point I hypothesiszed that these pieces may have been made by Wendt; perhaps the information you received came from me the long way around. At any rate, I think there is a good chance that Wendt or some other New York maker made a version of this pattern.

I have some ARMOR nut picks with the 925 mark and the retailer's mark "B&S". This stands for Beggs & Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio. I have seen other pieces of early NYC flatware with their stamp as well, like "Knot". Many "frontier" retailers seem to have been loyal to one wholesale producer; as such, it seems likely that these nut picks were also produced in NYC, but by whom remains to be proven. Most early Durgin flatware, on the other hand, seems to have been retailed on the East Coast.

If anyone has eveidence to the contrary, I'd love to hear it! I've been poking at this mystery for some time.

posted 03-13-2007 11:49 PM            

A lot of makers used some form of mark with the word "patent," but I am 100% sure that the particular one I have shown can be used to attribute a piece to Durgin. For example, I have had it on signed examples of Durgin's "Hindostanee" style pattern.

The pieces I currently have it on are a couple of cat-tail pattern items from about 1880. Aside from the PAT. APD. FOR mark, the cat-tail motif pie fork can also be attributed to Durgin via the very distinctive functional end style, which I have seen several times on signed pieces in other patterns. The fork and salt spoon are both marked STERLING PAT. APD. FOR with no maker/retailer marks. The two cream ladles are completely unmarked.

posted 04-26-2007 07:19 PM            

Here is one of the ARMOR nut picks with the 925 mark. It does not appear to be the same 925 stamp used by Wendt. It does resemble on used by Gale, though. I don't think it is a Durgin mark.

On reflection, Whiting must have obtained a version of the ARMOR pattern from some source. It is unlikely that it came from Durgin, so it seems reasonable that it was acquired from another old company. The question is which one!

Brent