posted 02-18-2004 10:25 AM            

Recently his grandmother gave him 3 pieces silver with the US Navy Emblem (it looks like a small teapot or creamer set). Two of the pieces are Gorham and have an eagle emblem with U.S.N. under it. The bottom of the pieces say: Gorham (with an anchor emblem) EP Silver Soldered and some numbers, 1 pint, 325. On the inside lid is 825 (i think). The other piece is made by R Wallace and has 0686 silver soldered 1-pt A. The emblem on the outside is an anchor and has U.S.N. Does anyone know what the history of these pieces are?

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

posted 02-19-2004 09:14 AM            

The numbers would most likely be the manufacturer's pattern numbers for those particular items.

In addition to guns and ships and bombs and such, armed forces also buy ordinary things such as tableware since soldiers and sailors need to be fed. Such tableware includes everything from plates, glasses, knives/forks/spoons, water pitchers, sugar bowls etc, etc. To discourage theft it is normally marked by the armed service. Also, it tends to be sturdy and not normally high quality such as solid silver or fancy crystal or fine china. It is similar to hotel ware, steamship ware, railroad ware, etc. Officer's mess ware tends to be a bit higher quality than enlisted mess. Officer's mess ware is often found silverplated as opposed to the plain steel or aluminum that the enlisted men had. Sometimes you can find really fine military marked items, but these were normally ones that were especially made for and used by admirals and generals and field marshalls and not ordinary officers.