Souvenir Spoons

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SOUVENIR SPOONS




A topic for sharing information, examples, advertisements, etc.

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MAINE



Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro. - New York - 1898

There appears to be several different examples of this one, both in silver and gold/silver plated. It would have been issued in 1898 following the explosion that sank the battleship USS Maine off Havana on the 15th February 1898.

The above image is from Robert H. Ingersoll & Brother's catalogue of 1898, but the actual manufacturer is unknown to me.

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VICTORY

Example of the Victory spoon manufactured by the Manchester Silver Co. of Providence, Rhode Island.









Teaspoon 5 3/4" (14.7cm) in length, 21 grams in weight.


Advertisement from 1942:



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CALIFORNIA MIDWINTER INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION



Alvin Mfg. Co. - New York - 1894

Manufactured by Alvin Mfg Co.for the California Midwinter International Exposition held at San Francisco in 1894. Different examples by different manufacturers were made for the same event.

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THE VETERAN OR G.A.R. SPOON



Anderton, Eberhardt & Co. - Dayton, Ohio - 1892

Designed by Anderton, Eberhardt & Co. of Dayton, Ohio. Introduced in 1891.




If the demand for souvenir spoons has been productive of nothing else, it has certainly been the means of bringing forth all the genius of the designers in endeavoring to produce an article that shall possess originality and artistic merit. The " Veteran or G. A. R." Spoon needs no word of praise to commend it to any one having an average amount of appreciation for the beautiful. The design has been pronounced one of the most beautiful ever produced. The design was first intended as a souvenir spoon for the Soldiers' Home, Dayton, Ohio, but finally it developed into a general souvenir for the veteran soldier. The distinctive G. A. R. features of the spoon will bring it into general demand among members of the Order, and will be a beautiful and lasting souvenir for the old veterans to present to each other or to younger members of the family. The handle of the spoon represents a Corinthian column, upon which stands, full dressed, the figure of a soldier, a correct reproduction of the monument which forms one of the principal features of Dayton, Ohio. Within the upper part of the bowl is seen a representation of the emblem of the G. A. R. Order, the spread eagle resting upon the crossed cannon.

Source: Souvenir Spoons. Containing descriptions and illustrations of the principle designs produced in the United States - George B. James jnr. - 1891

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THE CONFEDERATE SPOON


B.H. Stief Jewelery Co. - Nashville, Tennessee - 1895

Manufactured by B.H. Stief Jewelery Co. of Nashville. Available in plain or enamalled sterling.

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THE CHARTER OAK SPOON


Ernst Schall - Hartford, Connecticut - 1891

The spoons were manufactured by Dominick & Haff for Ernst Schall. They are thought to have been produced during the period 1891 - 1906.

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THE NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE SPOON


Daniel Low - Salem, Massachusetts - 1891

Following the success of their 'Witch' spoon, Daniel Low issued a souvenir spoon to celebrate the novelist and short story writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864), a former resident of Salem. The spoon was issued in c.1891

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THE McKINLEY SPOON



Daniel Low & Co. - Salam, Mass. - 1902

Issued in 1902 by Daniel Low & Co. to commemorate President William McKinley who was assassinated on the 6th September 1901.

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SOUVENIR SPOONS

No fad of recent times has advanced so rapidly and taken so strong and perhaps permanent a hold as that of souvenir spoons. These medals–for they are pieces of metal "bearing devices and inscriptions struck or east to commemorate a person, an institution, or an event"–are generally of silver, sometimes with gold bowl, but seldom all of gold. In shape they are usually of coffee, tea, or orange pattern; sometimes pap, dessert, sherbet, chocolate, sugar, and bon-bon forms are offered; while the design at times extends to almond scoops, pickle forks, sardine forks, ice-cream forks, child's forks, butter knives, butter spreaders, paper knives, and sugar tongs.




It is said that the oldest piece of silverware known is a spoon. Before knives or forks were employed the spoon was a household necessity. The derivation of the fad was from Europe, and tourists for many years have collected copies of the celebrated apostles' spoons. Special designs characteristic of places on the Continent have long been known. In the summer of 1887 M. W. Galt, of Washington, D. C, while travelling abroad conceived the idea of applying the fancy to this country, and on his return produced the first Washington spoon, showing the head of the Father of his Country. From the outset the venture proved a success, and a year later Daniel Low, of Salem, Mass., brought out his first witch spoon. Thus started, the idea grew until it has extended to every place of importance in the country, and even many of the smaller towns have their souvenir spoons. For the most part these spoons chronicle some historical event connected with the locality, or else a characteristic building or scene; failing in these, the memory of some distinguished person is perpetuated by the spoons. At first the designs were simple, but many are now quite complex. The most interesting spoons are those of the Eastern States, of which the following are representative: Newburyport shows the eccentric figure of Lord Timothy Dexter; Plymouth, the landing of the Pilgrims, or else the rock itself; Lynn, Moll Pitcher and her black cat; Hartford, the Charter Oak; Springfield, the likeness of her pioneer, Miles Morgan; Boston, the pot of baked beans; Cambridge, the statue of John Harvard; and Portland, her observatory. New York has several designs, one showing the East River Bridge; another, the Bartholdi statue; still another, Peter Stuyvesant; while Philadelphia has Independence Hall and Liberty Bell on her spoons. Albany preserves the memory of Diedrich Knickerbocker; Buffalo shows the head of a bison ; Rochester, her famous Genesee Falls. To the South, Baltimore has her battle monument and the terrapin and oyster; Charleston, Fort Sumter; and Savannah. Gen. Greene's monument and her City Hall; while Jacksonville has an alligator, and St. Augustine the city gates. Atlanta commemorates her orator. Henry W. Grady; Richmond, the monument of Robert E. Lee; St Louis shows the Veiled Prophet: Denver, her Rainbow Falls; San Francisco, the Golden Gate; Portland, Oregon, Mount Hood; St. Paul, Fort Snelling; and Minneapolis, the Flour City, a bag of wheat. For description of these, and illustration, see "Souvenir Spoons of America " (New York. 1891). Besides the foregoing there ore numerous spoons pertaining to distinguished individuals, as the Ben Butler spoon of Lynn, Mass., the Chauncey M. Depew spoon of Peekskill, the Longfellow, Whittier, Gen. Sherman, John Brown, and similar spoons. Perhaps among these should be included the several Christopher Columbus spoons, the Frances E. Willard and Sarah Bernhardt spoons. The Grand Army of the Republic, the Benevolent Order of Elks, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, the King's Daughters, and similar organizations, have special spoons. There are certain State spoons, as that of Kansas with its sheaf of wheat, and the New Jersey with its handle representing a cat-tail, and a mosquito in the bowl. Also there are special national spoons, as the Brother Jonathan, the historical cannon. All America, and Uncle Sam. Spoons with appropriate designs for Easter and for card parties (known as whist and euchre spoons) exist. Several special designs have been made to present at theatres on souvenir nights; also in several instances they have been used for advertising; thus special guests of certain hotels are presented with spoons, and certain large manufacturing firms have given spoons of characteristic designs to favored individuals. The following list gives as far as possible the places where special souvenir spoons can be procured: Alaska, Albany, Atlanta, Baltimore, Bar Harbor, Boston. Bridgeport, Brooklyn, Buffalo, California, Cambridge, Catskills, Charleston, Chicago, Cleveland, Concord, Mass., Dayton, Denver, Detroit, District of Columbia, Florida, Gettysburg, Hartford, Haverhill, Johnstown, Kansas City, Lexington, Lincoln, Lockport, Los Angeles, Louisville, Lynn, Macon, Manitou, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Mount Vernon, Mount Washington, Narragansett, New Bedford, Newburg, New Haven, Newport, New York, Niagara, Omaha, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Portland, Me., Portland, Ore., Portsmouth. Providence, Quebec, Reading, Richmond, Rochester, Salem, San Francisco, Saratoga Springs. Savannah, St. Augustine, St. Louis, St. Paul, Steubenville, Syracuse, Toronto, Troy, Utica, Waltham, Washington, Watch Hill, Worcester. The following personal spoons have been made: Ethan Allen. George Bancroft, P. T. Barnum, Henry Ward Beecher, Daniel Boone, John Brown, Benjamin F. Butler, Sarah Bernhardt, Christopher Columbus, Chauncey M. Depew, Timothy Dexter, Neal Dow, Hannah Dustin, Leif Ericsson, Benjamin Franklin, James A. Garfield, U. S. Grant, John Harvard, Anneko Jans, Diedrich Knickerbocker, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, Henry W. Longfellow, Miles Morgan. Moll Pitcher, Priscilla Alden, Israel Putnam, Paul Revere, William T. Sherman, Miles Standish, Peter Stuyvesant, George Washington. John G. Whittier, Frances E. Willard, and Roger Williams.

Source: Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year - Volume 16 - 1892

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THE SOUVENIR SPOON CRAZE

About as completely crazy a craze as ever took possession of this craze-susceptible country, is that for souvenir spoons. It may produce one good result, however. People collect souvenir spoons who never collected anything before, and as the fancy for collecting is of progressive growth some of them will, doubtless, be prepared, by the time they have loaded themselves with these more or less appropriate and tasteful devices of the silversmith, to commence gathering objects of more interest and value. Meanwhile, one hears on all sides of the spoon collections of America, and the factories produce the material to be collected literally by the barrel. All the charm of rarity vanished from the souvenir spoon long ago. Very few of them possess any artistic merit. As a rule the designs are vulgar enough, and the execution is of that inferior order inseparable from machine worked metal. At the low rate of cost for material, and the figures at which the souvenir spoons are sold, the manufacturers and retailers must be reaping a harvest even richer in its percentage of profit than the trinket trade commonly enjoys.
It would scarcely be possible to fix the number of different designs of souvenir spoons now on the market. One authority claims that there are about 700 designs. They are turned out by steam, and their score will probably augment as long as there is a town or village in the country with sufficient local vanity to make their sale profitable. The collector who undertakes to keep a complete line of souvenir spoons, will in the end, succeed in amassing something like a ton of memorials of the folly. A list of those alone which are advertised, is sufficiently extensive.
The craze took its start in New England. Some years ago, the first of these mementoes were put upon the market by a shrewd tradesman of the old witch town of Salem, Mass., named Daniel Low. The grisly memories of the superstition which made Salem infamous, were symbolized by him in a decidedly ingenious way. His first spoon was comparatively plain. Its character was stamped upon the handle in the name " Salem " and a figure of a witch riding a broomstick down the shaft of the spoon toward a cluster of pins. The device made such a hit that he invented a more ornate pattern. In this, the handle of the spoon is a broomstick, down which turns a rope. A spitting tom-cat perches on the bowl of the spoon. On the handle is the name of the town and the date of dismal memory, 1692. At the top, perched on the besom end of the broom, is a witch, who grasps her broom and rides a crescent moon. The fatal three pins appear, stuck in the rope. The Salem silversmith got these contrivances* up in gold and silver, and in various sizes, and they found a sale all over the country.
Naturally enough, the rest of New England was not long left in the rear by Salem. The Pilgrim spoon soon followed the Witch spoons. The Pilgrim showed on the handle a ship under sail, a cluster of mayflowers, and the inscription " Plymouth, 1620.*' The Plymouth Rock spoon was a rival to the Pilgrim. Its device was a representation of the famous rock and the town's name, and the date of the landing. Boston came to the front with the Boston Hub spoon, which introduced the hub of a wheel as an emblem on the handle, and a representation of the Boston Tea Party at the top. The Midnight Ride spoon showed Paul Revere on horseback, galloping upon his historic mission, and the John Harvard spoon had a copy of the statue of the founder of the great college and a facsimile of his signature. Connecticut got out the Charter Oak spoon, as a special memorial of the city of Hartford, and the Nutmeg spoon, for the credit of the state at large. New Hampshires, not to be left in the cold, produced the New Hampshire spoon, and made a dash at the souveniristic privileges of other commonwealths with the Miles Standish, Priscilla, Evangeline, Hiawatha, Rip Van Winkle and Angelus spoons. Longfellow has a souvenir spoon all to himself, with his likeness on the handle. So, also, has Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia Ledger fame.
An alligator among bullrushes adorns one Florida spoon. The California spoon has a head of a forty-niner, with his pick and spade crossed above a stream of coin. There is the Roger William spoon, dedicated to the pioneer of religious liberty in the New World. There are at least four Whittier souvenir spoons. They show respectively, the bust of the poet, his birthplace, his home at Amesbury, and Captain's Well, with a facsimile of his autograph on each handle. Springfield, Mass, has produced a souvenir spoon to Miles Morgan, the old settler and Indian fighter of the Seventeenth century, whose statue is a feature of one of the city parks; and Hartford, an Israel Putnam spoon of a very ornate character. The same jeweler who got up the Putnam spoon, has designed and issued an opposition souvenir spoon to the original Charter Oak. At Newport you may find souvenir spoons to recall the Old Stone Mill, the Lime Rocks, Fort Dumplings, and Narragansett Pier.
Chicago has an allegorical World's Fair City spoon. On the bowl you see Indians watching the approach of the Columbus fleet of discovery, 1492, on the stem the Columbian Tower, to be erected on the World's Fair site, Chicago, 1892, and on the termination of the handle a bas-relief figure of Columbus, with the Western Hemisphere as a background. Another Chicago spoon is the Phoenix. The top of the handle consists of the fabled Phoenix rising from its ashes; in the background is seen the rising sun, and the bowl is etched with a representation of old Fort Dearborn, erected on the present site of Chicago, by order of the general government in 1804 and demolished in 1856. Chicago also gives us the Lincoln souvenir spoon, with designs on it of Lincoln's home at Springfield, Fort Dearborn, and a quotation from one of the War President's speeches. The Christopher Columbus spoon is a Rhode Island invention. It is made in Providence. It shows the portrait of Columbus, his ship, the Santa Maria, flying the admiral's pennant, and on the bowl the great discoverer sighting the shore. Milwaukee honors her founder, Simon Juneau, with a souvenir spoon, and Saratoga has a very pretty memorial, on which one is shown Uncas. the last of the Mohicans, imbibing his primitive morning cocktail from the High Rock spring. The Fort Pitt spoon does justice to Pittsburgh. It has the arms of the city at the top, and the old blockhouse on the bowl. Syracuse issues two designs of Hiawatha spoons, in virtue of the fact that Onondago lake was the scene of that hero's exploits; and Albany has its Knickerbocker spoon, with sturdy Diednck at the top, and a sturgeon, the town's substitute for beef, upon the stem.
The St. Paul souvenir spoon is the old Fort Snelling, which is carved at the top of the handle, the falls of Minnehaha embellishing the shaft. Niagara's souvenir shows in relief Prospect Point, the American and Horse-Shoe Falls, and Goat Island between, and the rapids flowing down the stem. Alaska has the Totem Pole spoon, which is alleged to have been designed by Lieutenant Schwatka, andVirginia a spoon with a statuette of General Lee at the top and the State arms on the bowl. Philadelphia spoons show variously Willliam Penn, the Penn Treaty scene, and the most popular has the State arms at the top, and the Liberty Bell on the bowl. The City of Washington spoon has its bowl embellished with the dome of the capitol, a line of thirteen stars on its handle and the American eagle at the summit. There is another very elaborate National souvenir spoon. Two American flags entwine the Washington monument for handle and the tip of the handle is a Liberty cap, underneath which is shown the American eagle and shield. In the bowl, shown in relief is the statue of George Washington, by Greenough. Washington himself has a couple of souvenir spoons dedicated to him, with his portrait bust on the handle, and Martha enjoys one, showing her bust in the bone and the family crest at the top. There is a Mount Vernon souvenir spoon showing the coat-of-arms of the Washington family, full bust pictures of George and Martha Washington in Louis XV. frames, the Star of the Union and two furled National banners which lap into the bowl, partially embracing the home of the Father of his Country. A companion to this is a handsome Washington City souvenir spoon, with a perspective of the Capitol on the bowl, and the monument entwined with garlands for handle.
New York possesses an abundant assortment of souvenir spoons. One is the General Sherman, the handle being crowned by a bust of the old warrior. The Knickerbocker shows an ancient Dutchman, seated at his fireside, and the Peter Stuyvesant has a full length figure of the doughty governor on the handle. The Rip Van Winkle and the Anneke Jans are other New York spoons. Brooklyn has a Bridge spoon, with the statue of Liberty on the top. There is a North Pole spoon, with an iceberg at the top, for you to eat ices with; an Ethan Allen spoon, as a souvenir of Fort Ticonderoga, and quite a little collection by itself of spoons relating to the civil war. Quite naturally, theatrical souvenir spoons have come in. With the whole country from Maine to California to operate on, the possibilities of the souvenir spoon are almost limitless. Perhaps the burning question as to what to do with the surplus product of our silver mines, may find an answer here.

Source: The Art Collector - 1893

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THE MAKING OF SOUVENIR SPOONS

How many people as they stop and gaze in a jeweler's display windows and see trays of souvenir spoons with the name of the city or town, or the outline of some prominent building stamped in the bowl or the handle, ever stop to think of the number of operations and the amount of labor required to complete one of these spoons for market?
The majority of these spoons are made of sterling silver, which is purchased from an assayer in an ingot at a certain price per pennyweight. The silver is melted in crucibles and the furnaces are usually gas burning, as the heat has to be great. As the silver melts, a small handful of charcoal is sprinkled over the silver in the crucible; this clears all sediment and draws it all to the surface. When the silver is melted, it is poured into a mold which varies in size, the most common being 3 inches wide, 3/4 inch thick and 12 inches long. This mold is polished and free from all blowholes and small pits that usually appear in cast iron, of which this mold is made. The mold is always made on a slight taper with a false piece of steel fitted at the bottom; this is used in loosening the ingot by driving on the wedge or false piece. The mold is usually heated and swabbed with a piece of oily waste to prevent the metal from adhering. After the silver has cooled in the mold to a certain degree, it is removed and, if found to be free from pits and air-holes, it is scrubbed with hot water, soap and a stiff brush to remove all substance adhering to the ingot.
The next operation consists of breaking down, which is taking the ingot of silver after it has been scrubbed and rolling it through rolls made of tool-steel, hardened, ground and polished. These are usually 6 inches diameter with a 10-inch face, the size being generally determined by the size of the ingot to be rolled. The silver passing and repassing through these rolls becomes thinner and greater in width at each consecutive rolling, and the rollings are continued until the sliver begins to crack on the edges. The operator then knows that the metal has become so brittle that it must be annealed before any more rolling can be done. The ingot of silver is now about 3/8 inch thick, 5 inches wide and 20 inches long. The operation of annealing consists of grasping one end of the silver with tongs and passing it back and forth through a gas furnace until it is red-hot; it is then allowed to cool. After cooling, it is placed in an acid bath, which removes all the oxide and discoloring caused by heating. After the acid bath it is plunged in another bath of boiling water and scrubbed to remove all traces of the acid to protect the rolls from being disfigured by same. The silver is dried by covering with hot sawdust and is then put through the same operation of rolling again, the annealing process taking place as often as the silver requires it, which is determined by the silver cracking on the edges as mentioned before.
Great care must be taken during the operation of rolling to have the rolls exactly parallel with each other; if the rolls are not parallel the stock will curl and not roll straight, thereby stretching the silver more at one side than at the opposite, which causes it to break. Fig. 1 shows the shape of the rolls used. These rolls have to be ground and polished from time to time as they wear irregular and, therefore, do not roll the silver perfect. Again at times an imperfection appears on the surface of the rolls which must be removed as it will always show on the silver.




After the silver has been rolled to its desired thickness, it is then annealed for the last time, pickled and dried, then taken to the finishing rolls, which are made the same as the breaking down rolls, but smaller in diameter and ground more accurately and polished to a better finish. These rolls do no heavy rolling, but are used simply as sizers to bring the silver uniform in thickness. After passing through the finishing rolls, the silver, which is now in a rolled sheet varying in thickness from 0.025 to 0.035 inch, is taken to a pair of rotary slitting shears where the rough edges are trimmed and the roll of silver stripped into desired widths. The rolls of silver, together with the scrap that comes from the shears and that which remains in the crucible after melting (called the "button") are taken to the office and weighed to determine the shrinkage and waste. The silver is now ready to make into spoons.
The silver being in rolls it is taken to the shears and cut into pieces the desired length which vary according to the size of the spoon. The next operation consists of what is termed "grading," which is tapering the ends of the pieces of the silver for the handle and bowl. The pieces of silver are always cut shorter than the spoon itself as the "grading" operation lengthens the piece. The operation of grading is accomplished by the rolls shown in Fig. 2. These rolls are cut away in the center about 1/2 inch deep at one side and gradually lessening until the cut rises to the face of the roll. This section of the roll is usually about 2 or 3 inches wide, the length being about one-quarter the circumference of the roll. The rolls always run in the direction of the taper, or, in other words, the rolls revolve, so that at one given point the deepest portions of the recesses meet, having at this point a combined depth in the two rolls of 1/4 inch. It is at this point that the spoon is inserted for grading. As the handle and bowl are differently graded, there are two of these recesses in each roll. The pieces of silver are taken between pliers, the jaws of these being of a length to determine the length to which the silver is to be placed in the rolls. When the rolls have come to the point where the recess space is greatest, the operator is ready with the blank adjusted in the pliers. He pushes the projecting portion of the blank in the opening until the pliers come in contact with the rolls. In this position he holds the blank until the rolls grasp it and reduce the taper. The rolls are mounted in housings and are adjustable to any thickness.
Having graded both ends of the blank, it is then blanked out in a die made as shown in Fig. 3, which cuts the form or outline of the handle, leaving the bowl end in the state it left the grading rolls. I will explain the object of performing this operation in this manner. Generally a shop manufacturing spoons of this nature has various designs of handles, also it has a line of bowl dies of various sizes and designs. A mixed order is received in which so many spoons of the order are to have a certain handle and bowl, and a certain number to have another design of handle and bowl. By making the dies as shown, any style of handle can be made on any bowl or fancy spoon. Having blanked the handle, another die, Fig. 4, is used to blank the bowl. The blanks are now ready to have the design stamped on the handles.
This work is done in a drop-hammer between the dies shown in Fig. 5. In the dies is cut the design that is required on the top and bottom of the handle. These dies are called matched dies. The depth of the design always determines the thickness of the silver to be used–the greater depth, the thicker the stock. The blanks then pass through the operation of trimming which consists of being forced through dies similar to Figs. 3 and 4. but instead of the punch being flat, the center is cut away leaving a knife-edge on the outside. This is done to relieve the punch, so it will not disfigure the design, and at the same time allow it to cut a clean edge. Having trimmed the handle and bowl, the next operation consists of bowling, or, in other words, to bend the bowl from the flat to the desired shape.
This work is also done in a drop-hammer with the dies. Fig. 6, and the force, Fig. 7. The die is placed between the poppet on the drop-hammer bed and the force is secured in the jack-die, which is fastened to the hammer. The operator now places a blank on the face of the die. releases the hammer, which descends and the force presses the spoon bowl into the die. An automatic drop-hammer is the best for this operation, as it strikes every blow with the same force. If the name of any city or town or the outline of any particular object is desired in the bowl of the spoon, it is cut in the force as shown in Fig. 7. Doing this brings two operations into one. for, as the bowl is formed, the design appears.
The spoons are now passed on to the bench, where the filing is done. This operation consists of filing off the burrs and ragged edges on the bowl. The spoons then go back to the press department, where the handles are curved by being pressed between two hardwood blocks formed to the shape desired on the handle. The spoons then pass into the polishing room to be "boled"; this work is done on an ordinary polishing head, using a cloth wheel with a coating of rotten-stone, which has to be renewed at intervals. The holing removes all sharp edges and scratches on the silver, after which the spoons are polished by using another cloth wheel coated with crocus.
The spoons are then sent to the coloring room for the next operation, which consists of plating the bowls with gold in an electro-plating bath. Some bowls are oxidized; others pass through the operation of sand-blasting, which gives the spoon a dull finish. The spoons that are gold-plated are sent back to the polishing room and again polished, after which they are washed in a solution of hot water and ammonia to remove all stains, and finally they are dried in hot sawdust, when they are ready for the shipping room.
The souvenir spoon industry is very large, one firm alone having over 1,000 designs for bowls, which include the names of every city in United States and Canada of any size, and a large number of cities in other countries.

Source: Machinery - Volume 10 - Lester Gray French - 1904

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THE GENERAL WOOSTER SPOON



F.L. Wilson - Danbury, Conn. - 1891

The spoon celebrates General David Wooster and illustrates in the bowl the Nehemiah Dibble house in Danbury, Connecticut, where he died on the 2nd May 1777 having been fatally wounded on the 27th April at the Battle of Ridgefield.

The General Wooster spoon was manufactured by the Whiting Mfg. Co. It is marked 'STERLING' and 'Pat Apl'd For F. L. Wilson'.

F.L. Wilson were located at 207, Main Street, Danbury, Connecticut. They were noted as still being in business in 1925.

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THE GARFIELD SOUVENIR SPOON



Webb C. Ball - Cleveland, Ohio - 1891

The spoon celebrates President James A. Garfield who was assassinated at Washington, D.C. on the 2nd July 1881.

The spoon was marked 'Webb C Ball Cleveland O. Sterling Pat'd'

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THE KNICKERBOCKER COFFEE SPOON



J.H. Johnston & Co. - New York - 1891




DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER was a non-de-plume assumed by Washington Irving in the publication of the " History of New York," and has now become the name given in jest to all the old Dutchmen of New Amsterdam. In one of the patterns the " old Knickerbocker " is represented dressed in his ancient costume, sitting in his chair holding aloft a tankard, while another shows the old Dutchman seated at a desk poring over his books. In the coffee spoon there is produced a miniature statuette of an old Knickerbocker, which forms the top of the handle, while along the shank is the word " Knickerbocker," and in the bowl the words " New York."

Source: Souvenir spoons. Containing descriptions and illustrations of the principle designs produced in the United States - George B. James jnr. - 1891

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THE CHAIN BRIDGE SPOON




Made by Towle Silversmiths for Safford & Lunt (William Hills Safford and John E. Lunt), 46, State Street, and 19 Pleasent Street, Newburyport, Mass.




The "Chain Bridge" Spoon - Newburyport, Mass.
The Essex, Merrimac Bridge, or Chain Bridge, as it is popularly known, connects the main land at a point about two miles north of the centre of Deer Island, the home of the well-known authoress, Harriet Prescott Spofford. The river was first spanned at this point in 1792 by a wooden bridge, and in 1810 a lofty pier was erected on either bank, from which were suspended chains to bear up the weight of the road- way.On the 6th of February, 1827, the chains parted under the heavy weight of snow and ice. The bridge was rebuilt the same year, and has since remained in its present form. It is a very unique structure, its chief peculiarity being that the connections between the piers are of hand-wrought chains, and not of the modern and usual cable wire. This was the first suspension bridge erected in New England, and is claimed as the first in the territory now comprised by the United States.

Source: Souvenir spoons. Containing descriptions and illustrations of the principle designs produced in the United States - George B. James jnr. - 1891

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THE LINCOLN CATHEDRAL SPOON




The Lincoln Cathedral spoon was manufactured by Messrs. Vaughton, of the Gothic Works, Birmingham for a Mr. Odling, of Lincoln. It was issued in 1892.

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WELSH SOUVENIR SPOON




Messrs. Ahronsberg Bros., of Albion-street, Birmingham,have introduced a novelty in the form of a Welsh Souvenir Spoon, the design consisting of a Welsh harp, encircled with the leaves of the leek, the latter seemingly growing out of the handle. It should meet with a ready demand, as hitherto the "land of the bard " has been very much overlooked in this matter. This spoon presents a very pleasing appearance, being made in different colors of enamel. It is surprising the hold these souvenir spoons appear to have taken, and the number that have been produced ; but it is still more surprising a people so patriotic and hospitable as the Welsh should not have been catered for before. We have also to call attention to the new price list which this very enterprising firm have just issued ; as a reference for repairs of every description, it is well worthy of a place in every jeweler's establishment–the style of its publication certainly does the firm much credit.

Source: The Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith - 1st July 1893

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THE FIRST GOVERNOR OF KANSAS



















Manufacturer: William B. Durgin Co., Concord, N.H.

Retailer: M.B. Wright & Co., 1034, Main Street, Kansas City, MO.

Andrew Horatio Reeder (b.12-7-1807-d.5-7-1864) was the first governor of the Territory of Kansas.

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THE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS SPOON

Details of the Christopher Columbus spoon, manufactured by Tilden-Thurber Co. of Providence R.I.:



Tilden-Thurber Co. - Providence R.I. - 1893

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