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tline3open  Unusually Marked Milk Jug

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Author Topic:   Unusually Marked Milk Jug
Richard Kurtzman
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Posts: 768
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iconnumber posted 03-01-2007 10:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Richard Kurtzman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here is a 6" (to the top of the handle) C.1850's coin silver milk jug that has three marks: G&W (Grosjean & Woodward), S. Wilmot (struck twice) and Beggs & Smith (lightly struck).

What's the story?




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FWG

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iconnumber posted 03-02-2007 11:33 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for FWG     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, my first bet would be that G&W made the piece, either in Boston c.1840, or in NYC 1853-62 (according to Rainwater, 4th ed). One would normally lean towards the latter, as a period of known production on a fairly large scale, but in this case it might be either -- let's look at the others to see why:

Wilmot is a problem. If you check wev's website, he lists two Samuel Wilmots, father and son, breaking up what had previously been considered one person who worked first in Connecticut and then South Carolina and Georgia, so conceivably it could have been either. The father worked in New Haven, CT, c.1798-1810, and died there in 1846. Either he or the son, or both, were in Georgetown, SC in 1824. Samuel Wilmot was still in Georgetown in 1835, then in partnership with a T. T. Wilmot in Charleston 1837-41. Samuel next appears in Savannah, GA, in 1850, where he then partnered as Wilmot & Richmond probably c. 1853-4 until 1856. In 1868 Samuel Wilmot of Bridgeport, CT, gave a deed of land in Savannah to Joseph M. Cooper. It is possible that the Samuel in SC was the father and the one in GA the son, or the son could have been in both places. Very confusing!

According to the sources, there's a mistaken history for B&S as well. The firm was not in Louisville, KY, as reported in some places, but in Cincinnati 1848-61; the Louisville Beggs was a different person, according to Boultinghouse. Beckman's Cincinnati book shows an impressive 1850 presentation teaset with the B&S mark accompanied by pseudohallmarks attributed by Hollis French to Francis W. Cooper, NYC, so we know they were buying wholesale from others.

Note also that John H. Woodward of G&W later worked with Francis W. Cooper, who is presumed to have made that B&S teaset, so there's a connection within the connection....

Now, to bring it together:
B&S, Cincinnati 1848-61
Wilmot, SC 1824-41 or GA 1850-54/6
G&W, Boston 1840 or NYC 1853-62

The piece is of the quality associated with G&W's production (they made a good deal of silver for sale through Tiffany's), and there's every reason to presume that the others were primarily retailers, so let's stick with G&W as the manufacturer. It could have gone G&W to B&S to Wilmot or G&W to Wilmot to B&S; the GA period for Wilmot overlaps fully with the period for B&S (1850-54ish), and also with G&W's NYC period for 1853-54, or could be from their earlier Boston phase.

The marks look to me like the Wilmot mark is struck over the B&S, and the fact that it is struck twice also suggests a sort of emphasis. On the other hand, the dates are suggestive -- not insistent, but suggestive -- that it was first Wilmot, then B&S. If the Wilmot firm's stock was liquidated in 1856 (the firm was assigned to a W. B. Gaulden, not recorded as a silversmith), it could have either gone back to NY or to a travelling jobber, either of which could have gotten it to Cincinnati. I think that most likely, since if B&S had it first one would have to account for it going back to the east either directly to Georgia of back through G&W, and it seems to me that most trade was moving more east to west than the reverse.

So my scenario, in a nutshell: made by G&W, possibly in their first year in NYC, and wholesaled to Wilmot in Savannah; liquidated from their inventory there in 1856, and thence to B&S in Cincinnati.

And yes, I clearly have too much time on my hands today; I'm laid up home with the flu....

[This message has been edited by FWG (edited 03-02-2007).]

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Richard Kurtzman
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iconnumber posted 03-23-2007 02:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Richard Kurtzman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
FWG,
Thank you. Sounds good.

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ahwt

Posts: 2334
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 03-23-2007 09:56 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ahwt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This Grosjean & Woodward creamer is similar to your creamer and but has the mark of Hayden and Whilden, Eng. Sterling and 950-1000 in addition to the G & W mark. Hayden and Whilden were together from 1855 to 1863. Their partnership dissolved in 1863 when Augustus H. Hayden entered the Confederate Army. The design around the rim appears to be the same for both creamers, however there are variations in the handle and spout.

I think that the style suggests the 1850's and a Samuel Wilmot was in business in Savannah, Georgia as early as 1850. As reported by Cutten in his book on Georgia silversmiths, Samuel Wilmot became a partner with Henry Richmond a few years later. My guess is that Grosjean & Woodward made the cup about 1850 and before Wilmot became a partner with Richmond. Somehow they initially stamped the creamer with the Beggs & Smith mark and for some reason switched the retailer's marks to S. Wilmot. The circular nature of the mark is similar to the one used on the Hayden and Whilden creamer and this design may have been an invention of the Grosjean and Woodard company. The old man wind spout and other minor changes may have been simply a nature progression of the design in G & W's line of goods.

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