www.925-1000.com

This question is addressed primarily to American members. I would like to find out more about silver pasta servers or macaroni servers, which I believe were far more common in America than they were in Britain. The only literature I have on the subject is the Jan/Feb 1992 edition of an American magazine called Silver.
Does anyone have an example of a pasta server, or a catalogue listing and describing them?

Miles

The brief description accompanying this image:

Macaroni, Spaghetti, or Fried Oyster Servers

'As pratical as they are difficult to locate are these large-toothed, or notched, servers. They are unsurpassable for serving pasta dishes, many entrées, cutlets or scallopini, stuffed pork chops, fish, and many vegetable dishes'.

Source: 'Silver Flatware Dictionary' by Richard F. Osterberg and Betty Smith.

Trev.

Some of my books on American silver show examples of macaroni servers, however, at this point, I'd have to dig into some boxes to find them.

~Cheryl

U.S. Patent #15266, issued on July 1, 1856 to Boston silversmith Albert Lamb Lincoln, assigned to Lincoln & Foss:




1905 catalog page, Towle Old Colonial (1895):


1905 catalog page, Towle Georgian (1898):


1905 catalog page, Towle Old Newbury (1900):


1911 catalog page, Reed & Barton Francis I (1907):

Thank you both for your replies.
The article I mentioned said that the American use of the word macaroni includes pasta made into tubes, ribbbons, sticks and strands. Is this still the definition used in America? The British usage is for pasta small tubes only.

Miles

Heh, have to say, as a small child in the 1960s, any flat pasta was a noodle, any long round pasta was spaghetti, and most other forms of pasta, including the classic elbow shape were called macaroni (not including the beloved ravioli and tortellini). But so far as I recall, when I was a bit older, we generally called it "pasta" and identified it by shape, with "macaroni" being the small curved tubes. All that said, believe that the terms "macaroni" and "pasta" were pretty much interchangeable both here and in Great Britain in the 19th century, with "macaroni" appearing to be the more common, and seeming to gradually be used more often for the tubular forms. Kind of interesting stuff, but don't believe I'll delve any further.....

~Cheryl

Excerpt from an 1858 article on Macaroni-Making in Charles Dickens' Household Words (British):
(if by some remote chance anyone is interested, the entire article can be posted)


1857 excerpt from Emerson's Magazine (American):


1886 excerpt from Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book (American):


1901 article in The Pharmaceutical Journal (British):


1902 excerpt from Practical Cooking and Serving (American):


1913 illustration from The New Cookery showing Macaroni with Kidney Beans (American):

Wow! That's that question dealt with. It was also interesting to read in one of those snippets that pasta was considered a luxury among the upper classes. Clearly that is why we get these silver servers.

Miles

A bit more:

Osterberg's Sterling Silver Flatware for Dining Elegance (1994) notes the similarity between macaroni, entree and fried oyster servers, noting, "Again, the manufacturers have created a labeling problem, as some refer to the servers as macaroni spoons or macaroni knives or even as fried oyster servers.". Not uncommon for old silver catalogs and advertisements to show the same item with different names, marketing them under whatever description might increase sales.

Dr. Hood's Tiffany Silver Flatware 1845-1905, When Dining Was an Art (1999) (a fabulous book for anyone with a Victorian-era flatware fetish) shows three different macaroni servers/forks by Tiffany, including one with long wide tines at the end rather than on the side, noting, "Tiffany made two types of macaroni forks (confirmed by blueprint)." Additionally shown are two by Gorham that he describes as "multipurpose servers" or as an "entrée/fried oyster/macaroni server". He also references the patent below, "Some of the old forms of macaroni servers are still being made. Tiffany now offers a variation of Harding's macaroni spoon as a pasta server in its Padova pattern, designed by Elsa Peretti in 1984.".

~Cheryl


U.S. Design Patent #D1906, issued on March 1, 1864 to Boston silversmith Webb Harding:


~Cheryl

Having seen all these American pieces I'm now not convinced by my English item. Any suggestions as to what it might be for?

Miles

I believe the above item to be a melon knife/fork.

Miles

From Small Antique Silverware, by G. Bernard Hughes (1957):



~Cheryl