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 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 American Sterling Silver
 Whiting and Mermod, Jaccard & King
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| Author | Topic: Whiting and Mermod, Jaccard & King |
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seaduck Posts: 350 |
posted 01-01-2013 05:44 PM
  
What would be your instinct about the source of this design? I have a lovely open-work 'basket' featuring grapes and grape leaves. The underside is marked "Mermod, Jaccard & King." Right under that is "Sterling." Under that is " 118." And under that is a little triangle with 'petals' attached to each leg of the triangle. All of that is symmetrically clumped together. Elsewhere on the piece is a little Whiting lion device. I believe the triangle device is a Whiting date mark for 1907. I've done a little research on Mermod, Jaccard and know that at this point they were outsourcing. What would the relationship to Whiting have been? Would they have simply branded a standard Whiting production piece? Or would they have been producing their own designs for implemenation by Whiting? I'll try to post a pic tomorrow. IP: Logged |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 01-02-2013 12:17 AM
Goodman King joined Mermod, Jaccard & Co. in 1873, but King’s name did not appear in the company name until 1905. By this time this company was primarily a retailer of jewelry and silver products and I would expect that Whiting was just one of many companies that they retailed. The Jaccard associated with this company was D. Constant Jaccard who was born in Ste. Croix, Switzerland. For a short time D. Constant was vice consul for Switzerland in the St. Louis, Mo office. Most of this information comes from Norman Mack’s book on Missouri silver, but the 1905 date is from an internet web site. IP: Logged |
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bascall Posts: 1629 |
posted 01-02-2013 01:11 AM
For what it's worth and to just to add confirmation to the 1905 addition of King to the name of Mermod & Jaccard, the 1 April 1905 St Louis Republic ran an add stating the the name change was effective that day and that King had been connected to the firm for more than forty years. From what I could find King is first listed in St Louis directories as a bookeeper for DC Jaccard & Co in 1866, and at that time he wasn't quite at the age of majority. [This message has been edited by bascall (edited 01-02-2013).] IP: Logged |
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seaduck Posts: 350 |
posted 01-02-2013 01:58 PM
Many thanks to you both! So would you guess that Whiting had, in effect, a catalogue of designs and MJK selected products for resale that then got stamped with their own mark? Or would MJK have somehow worked with Whiting -- either having Whiting do something custom for them or somehow modify an existing design? Here's a photo of the piece in question...I wonder, for example, if this same piece would have appeared in another shop in another part of the country with another retailer's mark on it. IP: Logged |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 01-02-2013 03:31 PM
Your basket is very attractive and I suspect it was designed and made by Whiting and sold on the national market to a number of upper end jewelry and silver retail stores. I have also wondered whether the manufacturer or local retailer impressed the retail store’s mark on the finished product. If a retailer brought a substantial amount from a manufacturer they may well have had an agreement for the manufacturer to mark their goods at the factory, but otherwise Jaccard may have marked their own goods. I think Jaccard still had a repair operation in the early 1900s and certainly would have had the know-how to stamp their mark on the goods that they received from a variety of manufacturers. Mermod, Jaccard and King were always called Jaccards when I was growing up in St. Louis. Also Jaccards always had the unique St. Louis pronunciation of “JACK-arks”. St. Louis was founded by the French in 1764 by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau however Chouteau is pronounced “SHOW-toe and Bellefontaine is pronounced “Bella-fountain”. Life was never the same for the French in St. Louis after the raucous and rough English flowed in after 1804. IP: Logged |
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ahwt Posts: 2334 |
posted 01-02-2013 10:03 PM
Thanks Bascall for the information about Goodman King. Even if he was very young when he joined the company it really did take him a long time to get his name on the door. IP: Logged |
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seaduck Posts: 350 |
posted 01-03-2013 06:44 PM
And thank you, ahwt....both for the pronunciation guide and for your take on the design production! IP: Logged |
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bascall Posts: 1629 |
posted 01-03-2013 07:25 PM
Altough King had been in company management for many years, his name was only included after the founders had passed away. In his 1924 U S passport application, he declared that he followed the occupation of lawyer. IP: Logged |
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