posted 03-23-2001 10:00 AM            

Here is a neat piece of Baltimore coin silver by Andrew Ellicott Warner. It is a gravy or sauce ladle, decorated with typical Baltimore-style flat chasing and engraving and retaining much of its original bowl gilding. I especially like the chased leaves in the bowl. It was made sometime after 1830 , and probably not after 1850. The marks are A.E.WARNER in a serrated rectangle, and 10.15 in a plain rectangle. The 10.15 is a standard mark adopted by many Baltimore silversmiths after the dissolution of the Baltimore assay office in 1830. In refers to a standard assay of 10 ounces 15 pennyweight Troy, or 89.6% silver. If you see 10.15 on a piece of American silver, you can be certain that it is a Baltimore piece from this same time period. This designation was not used anywhere else.

posted 03-23-2001 12:52 PM            

I can add a few notes on the maker and his family. Andrew Ellicott Warner was born in 1786 to Cuthbert and Anna (Smith) Warner of Baltimore. Cuthbert, born 1753 in Philadelphia, was also a silversmith and trained both Andrew and, earlier, his brother Thomas H. Warner (born 1770). The brothers worked in partnership from 1805 until the outbreak of the War of 1812, when they took up arms, both serving with distinction. After the war, the brothers returned to the city and worked seperately, Andrew at their old shop on Gay Street and Thomas at 9 East Street until his death in 1828. Andrew's shop prospered and in 1867 he took his son, Andrew Jr, into partnership. The firm, Andrew E. Warner & Son, is listed in city directories until Andrew Sr's death in 1870. Andrew Jr continued the business alone and is last noted in 1893.

In addition to the Maryland Warners, another line of the family also produced a trio of fine silversmiths. Joseph Warner (1742-1800) is first noted working in Philadelphia c 1768. By 1780, he was working in Wilmington Delaware and, in 1786, took his sons John and William into partnership, their shop being at the Sign of the Golden Cann on Market Street. Both the Maryland and Delaware lines descend from William and Ann (Dide) Warner, who married c 1650 in Philadelphia. In addition, both lines are related by marriage to Phillip Syng Jr of Philadelphia who married Elizabeth Warner in 1730.