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New ONC pattern?

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Author	Topic: New ONC pattern?
asheland Posts: 935 Registered: Nov 2003	posted 12-22-2008 11:16 PM I got this new teaspoon by Old Newbury Crafters and the pattern is one I have never seen before. It is plain, but has a die struck decoration at the end of the handle, similar to Oakleaf, but it's a building of some sort. Has anyone seen this before? I have pictures, but nowhere at the moment to host them. Middletom, is this a special order perhaps? IP: Logged
vathek Posts: 966 Registered: Jun 99	posted 12-24-2008 07:58 AM possibly the Jefferson Memorial? IP: Logged
Scott Martin Forum Master Posts: 11520 Registered: Apr 93	posted 12-24-2008 08:30 AM The smith's mark is for Robert H. Lapham who began using the mark in 1965. I don't think it is the Jefferson Monument. For comparison: IP: Logged
doc Posts: 728 Registered: Jul 2003	posted 12-24-2008 09:21 AM Given that it was retailed by Gump's, I am wondering whether the building is the rotunda theater at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. It's not an exact replica, as it doesn't have the friezes, but it's close. IP: Logged
Scott Martin Forum Master Posts: 11520 Registered: Apr 93	posted 12-24-2008 12:41 PM Doc, You might be onto something. IP: Logged
asheland Posts: 935 Registered: Nov 2003	posted 12-24-2008 02:46 PM Very interesting replies. I have seen a lot of ONC patterns, but never anything like this. Thanks everyone! IP: Logged
middletom Posts: 467 Registered: May 2004	posted 01-05-2009 08:21 PM The pattern is called "Palace" and is indeed styled after the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Gump's came to us in the late 80s to make that pattern as an exclusive for them. Liz Lightstone, who was the silver buyer at Gump's at that time, came here with a young woman who was an artist. The design proposals they brought were three or four and we made samples of a couple while they watched. The design I worked on had the Palace dome on the end and the entire rest of the handle down to the ribs at the shank was fluted much like a Greek column. It looked wonderful when polished, but it was not practical to make as a production item because each flute had to be ground out with a small ball burr in a flexible shaft. The other design, that Bob Lapham made, was equally impractical for production. The Gump's folks went back to the drawing board and came up with the design you see in the photo. Gump's never really pushed the pattern even though it was their design and their exclusive. That could have been because the designs they most wanted were not practical to produce by hand. Very little of it was sold, so you have a quite rare piece. middletom IP: Logged
asheland Posts: 935 Registered: Nov 2003	posted 01-05-2009 10:18 PM Thanks Middletom! That is very interesting, I figured it was custom. How long has it been since any of these were made? IP: Logged
middletom Posts: 467 Registered: May 2004	posted 01-06-2009 05:52 PM I would guess that it has been eight to ten years since we made any place setting pieces, and even then not many were made. I can't now recall how much of Palace was made in total, but no one bought a large order. I'll run it by the others at work tomorrow and maybe I can come up with a better answer for you. middletom IP: Logged
middletom Posts: 467 Registered: May 2004	posted 01-08-2009 08:45 PM I'm a day later than I said I'd be, but I do have more information for you, Asheland. Bob Lapham reminded me that after the design had been decided upon, we made some pieces, in a hurry, for a special exhibit in San Francisco. The purpose of the exhibit was to raise money to restore or improve the Palace of Fine Arts. The Gump's reason for commissioning the pattern was primarily to sell the pieces to raise money for the Palace. Bob went out to San Francisco with our traveling work bench for that exhibit, to demonstrate handwrought techniques in the hope of interesting visitors to the exhibit enough that they would buy the Palace pieces, or order a service, and thereby contribute to the fund raising. Apparently few pieces were purchased , most of the purchases being of much less pricey items that were offered. We made a few serving pieces for Gump's to have on display at the store but that was about all that was made of the pattern. Asheland, your teaspoon may be one that someone purchased at the exhibit, perhaps as one might buy a souvenir spoon at a tourist site. As I said, it is a rare piece and you won't stumble across another, most likely. middletom IP: Logged
asheland Posts: 935 Registered: Nov 2003	posted 01-11-2009 12:03 AM Thanks again, Middletom! Very interesting. IP: Logged
Dale Posts: 2132 Registered: Nov 2002	posted 01-11-2009 11:35 PM Tom, are there other patterns produced for fundraising etc? Or is this the only one? It does seem that this could only be done by hand, not manufacturing. IP: Logged
middletom Posts: 467 Registered: May 2004	posted 01-12-2009 09:00 PM Dale, This is the only one, as far as I know, that we've ever done for fund raising purposes. You are right that it could probably only be done by hand unless the fund raisers could guarantee the manufaturer a minimum of pieces, most likely in the hundreds or thousands. IP: Logged
asheland Posts: 935 Registered: Nov 2003	posted 09-26-2009 01:17 AM middletom, Do you have an accurate estimate of what year or years these pieces were made between? And any ballpark of a total of pieces made? And this Palace design at the end of the handle, is it stamped in the same way you do on the Oakleaf pattern? IP: Logged
middletom Posts: 467 Registered: May 2004	posted 12-04-2009 05:29 PM Ashland, I didn't notice your last inquiry about this subject until today. I apologize. We made the Palace pieces only for a year or two in the late eighties. The end design is struck in, as you guessed, in the fashion of the Oakleaf. For the ridges down in the shank of the handle, we have a swag with two grooves and the silver is hammered into those grooves, then the shape is further worked by filing. middletom IP: Logged
asheland Posts: 935 Registered: Nov 2003	posted 12-05-2009 12:50 AM Thanks middletom! IP: Logged

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