posted 02-02-2000 09:47 PM            

Special Features
Dominick and Haff traced their origin through William Gale and the beginnings of Silver manufacture in this country. Around the turn of the century they made some really outstanding patterns, one of the most beautiful and unusual is Trianon pierced. The delicate lace appearance is a delight to the eye and must have been a challenge to manufacture. I do not personally know of any patterns "pierced" to that extent. An interesting characteristic of the pattern is that there is no way that one could put a monogram in the usual place. One therefore finds monograms in ingenious places such as the bowl of a spoon or the heel of a fork.

Dating
There seems to be some controversy regarding the date of origin of Trianon Pierced- Turner gives it as 1892, Hagan as 1887 and Dolan as 1901. I have never seen any patent marks. I am sure Dolan is off as I have one engraved 1897. D&H was acquired by Reed & Barton in 1928 and Turner does not list it as obsolete in 1929. Dolan reports that in the late thirties R&B had phased D&H out completely as a separate unit. One might therefore assume that production stopped by 1940, but who knows for sure. Due to popularity, in 1951 the pattern appeared again as "Florentine Lace by Reed & Barton" and apparently the exact same dies were used as I cannot tell the difference except for the mfrs marks. By 1990 Florentine lace was available only on a Made To Order basis. One can safely state that the D&H version is quite collectible and has not been produced for 50 to 60 years.

Pieces Shown
Item Length Our Cost
Flat Butter 5 �" $35
Teaspoon 6�" $25
Oval Soup 7 �" $35
Dinner Knife 9 �" $40
Dinner Fork 7 �" $69
Luncheon Fork 7�" $45
Salad Fork 6 1/8" $55

Photo:

Key Pieces
As can be seen, the dinner knife is a modern R&B version with a new French style blade. A true D&H blunt bladed version would be quite a find. I have never been offered one. Another difficult piece is the flat butter, note how small ours is. It is about half the thickness of the modern R&B version. It is a benefit to be able to fill in your set with R&B until you find the real thing. It looks so pretty on the table.

Comments
Dolan is quite impressed with the collectibility of the D&H Trianon version and prices it about 50% higher than the more common R&B Florentine Lace. However by hunting around we are usually able to find D&H mixed in with R&B and have not yet had to pay a premium. Another example of the beauty of starting early in a hobby and being able to purchase true collectibles at utilitarian prices.