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Author Topic:   M H L mark?
Paul Lemieux

Posts: 1792
Registered: Apr 2000

iconnumber posted 04-06-2004 02:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Paul Lemieux     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This is a hefty sterling plate and a copper bowl that I purchased recently. The mark is a monogram of MHL. Can anybody identify or locate this maker? It struck me as familiar, and I seem to remember it being a Boston smith.

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 04-06-2004 04:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Paul,

This is pretty exciting. I recollect that the Handicraft Shop in Boston had a woman silversmith who's last name ended in H. These deffinately look as if they are the work of a Boston smith and looks much like work I have by Gyllenberg and Leinonen. I will check my books later this evening and see if the initials match the woman's smiths name.

Fred

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 04-06-2004 11:26 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Paul,
The woman I spoke of fits the initials MLH. Mary L. Hersey was a metalworker at the Handicraft Shop and could easily be the maker of these items. The style matches production from the shop. I agree with you that the center and larger letter would normally indicate the surname of the maker. "SNIP" I have no confirmed documentation that Hersey work at the shop. The H that sometimes appears on Handicraft Shop was probably the work of George Hunt.

Fred

[This message has been edited by FredZ (edited 03-31-2006).]

[This message has been edited by FredZ (edited 03-31-2006).]

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asheland

Posts: 935
Registered: Nov 2003

iconnumber posted 03-19-2005 10:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for asheland     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
That plate looks alot like one I have by Karl F. Leinonen. What is it's diameter?

asheland

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Paul Lemieux

Posts: 1792
Registered: Apr 2000

iconnumber posted 03-28-2005 05:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Paul Lemieux     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I will have to dig it out, but the diameter is about 6.5". Mine is not Karl Leinonen. However, I am inclined to think the "L" on mine is the maker's last initial.

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 04-01-2005 03:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hersey is still my guess. The style is identical to the work comming out of the Handicraft shop and the initials are correct.

Does anyone know Leinonen's son's name? Perhaps he made some items like his father and signed them before they formed the partnership.

Fred

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 12-15-2005 02:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Karl Leinonen's son was named Karl Edwin Leinonen and I do not believe he had a mark other than that used by the father and son team of Leinonen & Son.

I have found only one book that mentions Mary L Hersey as having work at the Handicraft Shop. No other literature collaborates this info. A compilation of craftsmen who were members of the Boston Society of Arts & Crafts during it's first 30 years mentions Hersey as a metal worker and the addresses noted do not coincide with the addresses of the Handicraft Shop. I am trying to find an article written in the 30's that makes the first mention of Hersey's involvement with the Shop.

I will keep you posted if I make any progress.

Fred

[This message has been edited by FredZ (edited 10-23-2013).]

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Brent

Posts: 1507
Registered: May 99

iconnumber posted 01-19-2006 10:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Brent     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The style of the mark is a lot like Leinonen's, with the two first initials flanking a large L. I'd be more inclined to believe that the maker is actually an MHL, rather than MLH.

Brent

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 01-19-2006 03:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Brent,

I suspect you are right. The weight of the plate is massive and clumsier than the work of the craftsmen/women of the Handicraft Shop perhaps it is the work of someone who studied with one of them. I have had no luck on my Hersey research. She is mentioned as working at the Shop in an article written someone of from the Boston Society of Arts & Crafts. She is listed in the book documenting the Society and it's members. The addresses for her do not match those of the Shop.

Fred

[This message has been edited by FredZ (edited 10-23-2013).]

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 03-31-2006 02:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have recently found a bowl by this mystery maker and am acquiring for my study and collection. I still think we are right that the maker is from Boston and I believe there is a connection with the Handicraft Shop and those who worked their. I will let you know what I find when I finally get the bowl to examine.

I have seen images of a spoon with the same mark.

Fred

[This message has been edited by FredZ (edited 03-31-2006).]

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 11-26-2008 03:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My research has uncovered two more sources indicating that Mary L. Hersey was a metalcrafter at the Handicraft Shop in Boston.

The Annual Report of the Boston Society of Arts & Crafts mentions her as part of the Handicraft Shop in 1915.

She is also mentioned as having worked there as a metalworker in George Gebelein's biography.

The first mention of her that I found was in the book "Handicrafts of New England"

Fred

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 03-03-2013 04:19 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Boston Museum of Art has recently sold two spoons by Mary Knight that had originally been in the possession of George Gebelein. Both were accompanied by notes written by Gebelein and one of the notes mentions Mary Hersey as a maker of one of the spoons. Both spoons are decorated by Knight.
It is great to find further period documentation that Hersey may have worked at the Handicraft Shop.
Fred

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June Martin
Forum Master

Posts: 1326
Registered: Apr 93

iconnumber posted 03-03-2013 08:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for June Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hi, Fred. Thanks for providing this update. The hunt continues....

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 09-18-2013 10:25 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My constant search for any information on Mary L. Hersey and her connection to metalsmithing has yielded another morsel of information.

Mary L. Hersey is listed for exhibiting a silver tea strainer with pierced decoration. She was listed in the Boston Tercentenary Fine Arts and Crafts Exhibition held in 1930.

Fred

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Scott Martin
Forum Master

Posts: 11520
Registered: Apr 93

iconnumber posted 09-18-2013 10:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Scott Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks Fred for sharing this morsel and for keeping this thread alive.

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FredZ

Posts: 1070
Registered: Jun 99

iconnumber posted 08-09-2015 10:31 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for FredZ     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
As time allows I am able to do further research. Google continues to digitize more am more documents. I have take this information from copies of "The Annual Report of The Society of Arts and Crafts of Boston"

Miss Mary L. Hersey is first recorded with Craftsman status in their annual report for 1906. I have seen a scan of handwritten entry for Hersey in a 1905 Report.

This confirms the information gathered by Karen Evans Ulehla in her book "The Society of Arts and Crafts Boston Exhibition Record 1897-1927.

Fred

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Scott Martin
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iconnumber posted 08-09-2015 11:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Scott Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you Fred

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