Meriden Silver Plate Company - Cromwell variant?
Meriden Silver Plate Company - Cromwell variant?
Sample teaspoon topmarked for Fred Harvey in script. This one carries backstamps for Triple plating by the Meriden Silver Plate Company unit of International Silver. Note it is not Meriden Britannia, Meriden Silver Co., IS, nor any Rogers marks in this case. It does appear to be close to Cromwell, but there are some slight differences in the handle towards the end. Might this just be due to variable production factors of the operating factories, or was there a pattern alteration? Cromwell seems to originate with the 1847 Rogers line in 1912, but perhaps M.S.P. Co. handled the commercial client orders at some point. The basic pattern with various factory marks was widely used by railroads including Santa Fe (related to Harvey) but the marks generally are not as explicit as this sample with its’ Roman numerals.
Re: Meriden Silver Plate Company - Cromwell variant?
The marks would indicate Sectional Plate in triple at three points only based on the old system.
Re: Meriden Silver Plate Company - Cromwell variant?
Additional. Getty Images 1940’s photo of actress Esther Williams dining at the Fred Harvey restaurant in the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT) can be enlarged to reveal that the Syracuse China “Encanto” pattern service was on the table, clarifying what appears in all those other fuzzy photos at the railroad station. And right next to it, the topmarked Fred Harvey signature silverware in the Cromwell pattern. ( I have the link, but that’s a commercial site which would violate posting rules.)