Posts: 125
Registered: Oct 2003

posted 03-22-2005 10:03 AM            

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[01-2276]

Hi there,

I bought this little salt spoon and the only mark on it is "O.REED" and then half of an "&" sign. I bought it in New York but I don't yet have a book on American Silver.

Do you know who made this and the date?

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posted 03-22-2005 10:19 AM            

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The maker was Osman Reed of Philadelphia. He worked alone c 1830-1840 and as O. Reed & Company c 1840-1850. It looks like he cut down an old punch for continued use after the Company disolved.

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posted 03-22-2005 11:11 AM            

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Many Thanks for that. This is my first piece of American Silver and I find it interesting that he cut the punch down.

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posted 03-24-2005 05:06 PM            

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It seeems you're suggesting O. Reed was too lazy to grind off the rest of the ampersand - that doesn't sound quite right... Or are you suggesting it's a bit of a joke - in that he 'lost' the Company?

[This message has been edited by salmoned (edited 03-24-2005).]

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posted 03-24-2005 09:43 PM            

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This is not the only punch like this. It may not have been deemed important, or it may depend on where the "handle" is attached, and whether there is enough extending beyond the attachmant to grind off.

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posted 03-25-2005 07:04 AM            

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I can not see well in the image, but could the punch have been struck tilted to the left and the Co, was so shallow that it was polished of in the finishing... these little spoons are so thin?

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posted 03-25-2005 09:23 AM            

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Hi again,

The mark is evenly struck and not "off" in any direction. There is still about 1cm of flat space before the top of the spoon curves and there is no evidence of a longer mark. It just simply ends halfway through the "&" symbol.

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posted 03-25-2005 11:24 AM            

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John McGrew in his book Manufacturers' Marks on American Coin Silver provides several examples of dies that were altered after partnership dissolved. When Bumm & Sheppper dissolved, Bumm cut their die down and the final product included a small portion of the ampersand. The same was true of Sherman & McCanon. The die cutter trade was separate from the silversmith and it appears that most silversmiths contracted with die cutters for their die. The cost must have been expensive as dies were used by the silversmiths for a long time.

The earlier use of raised letters in a mark has always been more attractive to me than the later use of what is referred to by Martha Gandy Fales as an intaglio mark. I don't know, but suspect that the latter die was easier to make and might have been easier to use by the silversmith.

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posted 03-25-2005 01:04 PM            

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Intaglio punches were easier and cheaper to produce. To make an incised punch, the die cutter first had to cut an itaglio version in soft steel, harden it, and drive it into another steel blank. This was then cut down to the desired cartouche shape (rectangle, serrated, banner, etc) and the steel hardened, finishing the punch. With an itaglio, the whole second step was eliminated. Such punches were also easier to modify ala the Reed punch. An old partner name could be removed without affecting the structural integrety of the remaining name/names. On the Reed punch, the sidewall following the D, if the ampersand was removed entirely, would have been too thin to stand up to driving the punch and would likely have chipped or cracked.

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posted 03-25-2005 02:08 PM            

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Sorry to be cantankerous, but do I misread something here? Sunken letters are incised into the metal. Intaglio marks are incised into the surface, are they not? The terms are synonymous, or nearly so. Marks in which the letters are raised above the surface of a sunken reserve are described as in cameo.

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posted 03-25-2005 03:48 PM            

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It is very confusing, I agree.

Incise and Incuse refer to the nature of the punch.

Intaglio and in cameo refer to the nature of the mark.

An Incised punch has the letter cut into the face of the metal; an Incuse has the metal cut away leaving the letter. The former produces an in cameo mark; the latter, an intaglio.

Here is an 19th century type punch, called a drive in the trade.

It would be struck into a brass body to make the actual casting mold for the piece of type. It is an Incuse punch and, as is, would give you an intaglio mark. If you drove it into another piece of steel, dressed the cartouch shape, and hardened it, you would have an Incise punch, which would give you a cameo mark

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posted 03-25-2005 04:14 PM            

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"Confoozin but amoozin." I guess we are saying the same thing.

quote:

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intaglio It. fr. intagliare to engrave, carve. . . . An engraving, esp. an incised figure or design in stone or the like, depresssed below the surface of the material so that an impression taken from it yields an image in relief; -- opposed to cameo.

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-- Webster's New Collegiate

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