www.925-1000.com

There is a Fenner Williams who was a jeweler at 52 Friendship in Providence, Rhode Island over the period that Norton & Seymour were in business. He's at least a fair possibility for the retailer in this case.

Sadly no. There is a rule of thumb that I think works pretty well especially for twentieth century silver in America. If it doesn't say sterling, it's not.

The pattern is Mazarin. Michael W Shaw was a retail jeweler in Gavelston, Texas and it is his business's name that is probably on the box you mention. Mazarin has been a popular pattern with quite a few people. Your pieces look like they are in good shape.

I think silver. This could have been the offer to get someone started, and then the price went up from there?

I haven't looked into this to any extent but maybe the difference in the year Tere Hagan gives and the year of the advertisement is because the piece in this topic is silverplate? The Tere Hagan listing for Rogers Bros Gothic pattern has a disparity in the introduction date too. On the surface I've ...

David,

Thanks! I just imagined I was slightly in the line of fire. Your "write ups" are always exemplary, but with a possible double barrel there, I thought maybe you had gotten a little irritated. I aplologize for that.

Pat

My year was taken from a Tere Hagan identification and value guide. I'll go with the advertisement. Thanks, Trev.

To my knowledge, this is not a sought after pattern, but then I'd never paid any attention to it at all until you mentioned it. Mine was just a suggestion of a possible route to follow to find what you are looking for. I do think your subject matter is extremely interesting. When you have time, anot...

Hello, I was out of town when you initially made this post, and I just back home to my meager references last week. So I can add that your spoon is silverplate and was introduced in 1920 with the name Clovelly.

I will be on the look out for your pattern. Who won the suit? For my eye, the two patterns are not enough a like to have a problem, but I can also see that they are similar enough to have caused a dispute. You are no doubt getting your name on the lists of patterns wanted wherever possible.

May I say that as this is a discussion group, mentioning additional words about a subject when they actually apply should not be considered showing off. Even genuine mistakes should be handled with an air of forgiveness in our format.

I agree with your distinction silverport, but as I understand it whale and baleen are synonymous. Even though they are a bit of a misnomer, I believe whalebone or baleen are the accepted terms used to identify this handle.

Another name for whalebone that is used in connection with handles like yours is baleen.

This mark makes me think of the Woods & Chattelier 14 K Novelties trademark that is identified in the "Trademarks of the Jewelers and Kindred Trades" published by the Jeweler's Circular. Woods & Chattelier were silversmiths, so it is not difficult for me to imagine them using that ...

If you have a piece of flatware that is marked Newport Sterling, it should be possible to at least identify when the pattern was first produced. There was also a much later Newport Sterling jewelry manufacturer in North Kingston, Rhode Island. They used the words Newport Sterling and the Internation...

The Forbidden Knowledge article was very interesting. At this point I'm inclined to believe that much of what has been written about Armand Hammer is true and this includes the trip to Russia in 1921 and dealings with the Soviet government at that time. As Armand Hammer and family were so deeply inv...

Regarding the mention of Armand Hammer's official purpose for visiting the Soviet Union in 1921, his passport application in 1921 has no mention of visiting the Soviet Union that year. The passport was issued for the purpose of visiting England, France, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Holland for commer...

One of the best things about this site has been the fakes being exposed. The Russian fakes in particular seem to be so good that if someone was not putting up the warning flags I would have no idea how to detect them. I mean absolutely no disrespect to the experts that can identify fakes; however, f...

I would take this to be coin silver, and Parmelee is likely to be the retailer. It is too difficult for me to tell exactly which Parmelee this might be for sure from just an incised mark of a last name. Good luck with your research.

The scene could be San Francisco Bay. The pattern may be identifiable with one of the second half of the nineteenth century San Francisco silversmiths or manufacturers. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to check into those possibilities further right now.