<B.S.CO.>. <A1> Unknown Commercial Use

[Traintime]

A tie-in to commercial supplier Albert Pick & Company, suggests Blackstone Silver Company of Bridgeport (Stratford) Connecticut as a possible here (Pick did business in San Francisco and this business' address may lead there...so far not confirmed.) Age of spoon is uncertain, but possibly first quarter of 20th century. Any ideas on maker?

[dragonflywink]

'B.S. Co. A1' is pretty well documented as a trademark of Holmes & Edwards, in use from the late 19th century into at least the early 20th century - see no connection to Blackstone Silver (other than city of manufacture) or Albert Pick. The pattern is 'Windsor'.

~Cheryl

[Traintime]

Thanks Cheryl, will add that cross reference note to my Rainwater. Does the mark always appear (as here) without a space between the "B." and "S."...Rainwater showed it with a space only. [Since the intent of the abbreviation seems obvious, has this caused any confusion with the Bridgeport Silver Co. of 1880-84+ that she noted but had no mark for?]

[Traintime]

BTW, did I.S. Co. terminate the mark before 1906? (If so, the spoon might be another pre-earthquake old San Francisco relic which might explain why this user location is so hard to find any reference for. The address is close to Chinatown which was completely wiped out in the ensuing fires.)

[Traintime]

An added note of warning...While the <B S Co.> mark for Birmingham Silver Company is known, the Alphabetical Listing of Trade Names at the back of Rainwater has incorrectly presented the spaced <B. S. CO.> for this firm. Also, while the INSILCO form of <BS CO> is correct, the H&E form is shown as <B.S. Co.> when it should be <B. S. CO.> according to what she presented in the actual marks entry (strangely missing from International Silver's own presentation of predecessor marks in their company history). Everyone confused yet?
As to Windsor, the shape is a match, but it is a common enough pattern to have been produce by others. In the case of the sample here, the terminal of the handle is sharply turned up (topside)..don't know if this differs from H&E pieces.

[dragonflywink]

Not able to access my files for any dates at the moment, but the 'B.S.CO. A1' mark most likely stands for the Bridgeport Silver Co., as to whether they were acquired by Rogers & Brittin and in turn, was part of their acquisition by Holmes & Edwards, or if they were acquired separately - not really sure that information is even available. Regardless, the 'BRIDGEPORT.SIL.CO. A1' found on flatware was also used by Holmes & Edwards, the Bridgeport Silver Co. 'bee skep' mark was used on holloware and the pieces I've seen it on seem to be circa 1880s, no idea if that mark was used by Holmes & Edwards. Many of the same flatware patterns can be found with marks from all the companies mentioned previously, as well as others.

Concerning International's termination of trademarks, some were used well into the mid 20th century, though most were out of use by the '30s - International Silver was a conglomerate of silver and silverplate manufacturers, the companies retained their names and trademarks, and some continued at the same factories while others were consolidated into larger facilities - Holmes & Edwards was at International's 'Factory C' in Bridgeport, CT. I do know that your mark was used at least a few years into the 20th century...

~Cheryl

[Traintime]

Not to drive everyone crazy, but have also noticed this...Rainwater showed a <B. S. C.> mark for Barbour but did not put it in the Alphabetical listings section. International's own history (1947) had neither this nor any <BS CO> mark as listed by Rainwater. They did however show a (cartouched) gothic <B S Co> mark for Barbour, distinguished with anchor above and crown below, which Rainwater apparently chose not to show...rather odd when you realize her marks appear to have been directly lifted from this source (I don't have 4th edition to know if they ever corrected these problems).
International's researchers did cover the early history of Holmes & Edwards without mentioning the actual name of the firm they bought. There was no discussion concerning any additional absorptions at the time, which doesn't mean it didn't happen.

[dragonflywink]

I don't have my Rainwater available at the moment, but can tell you that the 4th edition was done with Judy Redfield and has much more information than previous editions or the later 5th edition, which has much of the information found in the 4th removed (and it's a bit difficult, without images, to try and pinpoint which marks you're referencing). It's also a rare reference that doesn't have some errors and gaps, and new information is discovered all the time...

Feel sure that I have an English language ad in my files similar to the 1904 Spanish language ad below, but this one will have to do - it shows "B. S. Co., A 1, etc." as one of Holmes & Edwards' trademarks, as well as an illustration of a 'Windsor' spoon:



Believe it's often overdoing a bit to worry about spacing, case, etc. in manufacture's trademarks, there are usually numerous variations.

~Cheryl

[Traintime]

Thanks again Cheryl. While another site does show the mark as H&E, your ad photo is the clencher with the turned up terminal and mark reference. (Looks like along with gold at the Columbian, H&E got the silver award at the California Mid-Winter which probably increased their useage in the Bay Area.) And there a still people who wonder why we keep extensive old ad files on hand!

[Traintime]

Added info--The Rogers & Brittin part of H&E early history can be found in this contributors' notes entry by Trev for anyone with an interest in how these things came about: http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic ... 0ca#p98044
(Thanks again to Cheryl for previously sharing her vast knowledge of these historical tidbits.)

[Traintime]

Just an update for anyone who cares. While nothing has been found for an earlier era so far, the address of 9 Stockton Street was the location of a succession of restaurants during the 1890's in San Francisco. 1900 listings are as close as I have gotten to the giant earthquake/fire events, and nothing after that era when the city was rebuilt. Golden West (leaving out Australia) was not an uncommon term during this period...Sons of the Golden West had numerous lodges and meeting places, but nothing has been linked to this location. This was the corner near the primary Market Street thoroughfare. Down that road was the large Ferry Terminal used to evacuate the city population to the Oakland side of the bay in 1906. Also, across the road from Stockton was Fourth Street. This quickly led down to the Southern Pacific Railroad headquarters and penninsula rail station, from where trains could go around via San Jose to the Oakland/Berkeley side. With survivors scrambling for anything they could use, it may well be this item was taken from the rubble and made it's way out of the city. And then again, just more thieving tourists? Will just have to keep searching.