Ice cream spoons? J.E. Caldwell retailer; possibly Sharp?
Ice cream spoons? J.E. Caldwell retailer; possibly Sharp?
This set of 12 bright cut twist handle spoons is marked for "J.E. Caldwell & Co." which I understand was a high end retailer in Philadelphia and not the maker. I cannot identify the pattern. When we bought the set in 2002 we were told that this pattern is generally attributed to George Sharp, but I cannot confirm. Also, are these ice cream spoons or fruit spoons?
Re: Ice cream spoons? J.E. Caldwell retailer; possibly Sharp
Hi,
My knowledge of American silver is limited, to say the least, but, and I stand to be corrected, the likely manufacturer is perhaps Duhme & Co.
Duhme & Co. - Cincinnati - 1870
It would be good to hear the thoughts of others.
Trev.
My knowledge of American silver is limited, to say the least, but, and I stand to be corrected, the likely manufacturer is perhaps Duhme & Co.
Duhme & Co. - Cincinnati - 1870
It would be good to hear the thoughts of others.
Trev.
Re: Ice cream spoons? J.E. Caldwell retailer; possibly Sharp
I don't know for sure which pattern goes with which manufacturer, but the first name that pops into my mind is Oskamp.
Re: Ice cream spoons? J.E. Caldwell retailer; possibly Sharp
I've been researching some of my own silver and looked for some info on your spoon.
On http://www.silvercollection.it/AMERICAN ... ARKSC.html it lists J.E. CALDWELL & CO - Philadelphia, PA
Founded in 1848. Now J.E. Caldwell Co. as the maker.
For the pattern, it appears to be unidentified on replacements.com
(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )
You should be able to search the spoon style with the scalloped bowl. I would guess it is a serving spoon of some sort as you probably wouldn't want to eat off of it given the texture.
Great find; appears to be from the 1800's!
Rosie
On http://www.silvercollection.it/AMERICAN ... ARKSC.html it lists J.E. CALDWELL & CO - Philadelphia, PA
Founded in 1848. Now J.E. Caldwell Co. as the maker.
For the pattern, it appears to be unidentified on replacements.com
(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )
You should be able to search the spoon style with the scalloped bowl. I would guess it is a serving spoon of some sort as you probably wouldn't want to eat off of it given the texture.
Great find; appears to be from the 1800's!
Rosie
Re: Ice cream spoons? J.E. Caldwell retailer; possibly Sharp
Although it looks strange to us, I think this is a set of teaspoons from a time when teaspoons were meant to be used to stir cream and dissolve sugar and then be discreetly returned to one's saucer. Can you imagine some ruffian licking their teaspoon - oh the horror!
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Re: Ice cream spoons? J.E. Caldwell retailer; possibly Sharp
Made a mental note to run through my references when I got a chance, looking to the very slim possibility of finding an attribution for the pattern, but that just doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon - so some quick random thoughts...
The Cincinnati based Duhme or Oskamp strike me as less likely wholesalers for these spoons to Caldwell than Philadelphia based makers like Sharp or Watts, or perhaps New York based Gale or another east coast firm. Suppose there is the outside chance that Caldwell produced them in their own shop - despite being known as a retailer and Rainwater's noting that they dropped 'Manufacturer' from their advertising in 1860, ads and articles well into the 20th century show them claiming to be 'Silversmiths' and/or 'Makers', but hard to tell if that was actually true or just marketing.
Been a while since this was first posted, so not sure if pmpadley will return, but will assume that since they posted it in 'Coin Silver', it's not marked 'Sterling', so along with the style, they most likely date to the 1860s.
A size is always helpful, but since the question of use as ice cream or fruit spoons was raised, would guess they're in the area of 5½-6½ inches, and a set of twelve would rule out serving pieces. Suspect that these are a bit early to have been offered as anything other than, as Jag suggests, fancy teaspoons or perhaps, dessert spoons.
The picture of the spoon isn't particularly clear, but appears to show an engine-turned background - Figure 2 in this article on James Watts shows several similar 'twist engraved' handles with engine-turning:
The Flatware Patterns of James Watts
~Cheryl
The Cincinnati based Duhme or Oskamp strike me as less likely wholesalers for these spoons to Caldwell than Philadelphia based makers like Sharp or Watts, or perhaps New York based Gale or another east coast firm. Suppose there is the outside chance that Caldwell produced them in their own shop - despite being known as a retailer and Rainwater's noting that they dropped 'Manufacturer' from their advertising in 1860, ads and articles well into the 20th century show them claiming to be 'Silversmiths' and/or 'Makers', but hard to tell if that was actually true or just marketing.
Been a while since this was first posted, so not sure if pmpadley will return, but will assume that since they posted it in 'Coin Silver', it's not marked 'Sterling', so along with the style, they most likely date to the 1860s.
A size is always helpful, but since the question of use as ice cream or fruit spoons was raised, would guess they're in the area of 5½-6½ inches, and a set of twelve would rule out serving pieces. Suspect that these are a bit early to have been offered as anything other than, as Jag suggests, fancy teaspoons or perhaps, dessert spoons.
The picture of the spoon isn't particularly clear, but appears to show an engine-turned background - Figure 2 in this article on James Watts shows several similar 'twist engraved' handles with engine-turning:
The Flatware Patterns of James Watts
~Cheryl