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tlineopen  American Silver before sterling
tline3open  Decorated drops

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Author Topic:   Decorated drops
ahwt

Posts: 2334
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 07-05-2017 04:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ahwt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote


Wev’s post A Swell Ladle got me thinking about this spoon with a somewhat rubbed mark as this little spoon also has extra decoration around the drop as Wev’s ladle does. Joseph Carpenter may be the maker of this spoon as the mark is very similar.

The extra decoration around the drop may have been a feature of Carpenter’s silver.

It does appear to me that the engraving of the initial S is a little tentative. Maybe that is just the style of the time. It would be interesting to see other work by Mr. Carpenter to see if this style was repeated.

The picture of the mark is the same, but I altered the contrast on one to see if it was clearer. Neither one is great, however they do bear a resemblance to Carpenter’s mark.

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wev
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Posts: 4121
Registered: Apr 99

iconnumber posted 07-05-2017 08:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for wev     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have looked at lot of flatware over the last thirty years and I have seen this sort of decoration twice -- on my ladle and now on your spoon. I have not found any descriptive mention of such in any reference or institution database.

The mono is by a much less adept hand and could have been added any time afterwards for any number of reasons.

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ahwt

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Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 07-05-2017 09:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ahwt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
That is interesting. Mr. Carpenter worked for a fairly long time so maybe there are more examples out there of his work.

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ahwt

Posts: 2334
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 07-10-2017 05:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ahwt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote


Above is another spoon by Mr. Carpenter that I just found that was in the same box with the first spoon.

The drop on this spoon is not raised but it has a decoration where the raised drop would have been. I think this was much more common than the other form. I suspect that it was easier to make the spoon without the raised drop, but a decoration where it would have been carried on the look of the old one without the extra work. I will leave it to our silversmiths to see if there is any truth in this conclusion.

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wev
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Registered: Apr 99

iconnumber posted 07-10-2017 06:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for wev     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Decoration of that sort is not uncommon and would require a good deal less work than the previous example.

The mark on your spoon appears to be James Chalmersof Annapolis MD.

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ahwt

Posts: 2334
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 07-11-2017 12:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ahwt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for the correction WEV.

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Polly

Posts: 1970
Registered: Nov 2004

iconnumber posted 07-12-2017 12:38 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Polly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It looks to me as though whoever engraved the monogram was not comfortable with curved lines.

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ahwt

Posts: 2334
Registered: Mar 2003

iconnumber posted 07-13-2017 11:16 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for ahwt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
You are right Polly. It was like they were drawing tangents on a curved line.
I imagine is was done by someone other than whoever decorated the spoon as their work was quite good.

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