Gorham mystery spoon (not Isis not Hindoo)

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Gorham mystery spoon (not Isis not Hindoo)

Post by Aguest »

This is quite an amazing spoon, even though it is only a master salt spoon at best. It may have been used for another purpose as it is quite shallow.
At first I thought it was Isis until I finally found an Isis salt spoon. Then I thought it was Hindoo until I found more Hindoo pieces.
I found a reference to non-line geometric patterns on an old silver website, and they spoke of patterns similar to Isis and Hindoo but
all these pieces had hollow handles or hollow geometric designs such as spheres and torpedoes.
There was also a reference to "egyptian revival" pieces that were different from Isis and images of these pieces exist in certain Gorham documents.
These pieces were almost certainly designed by the same person who designed Isis and Hindoo.

I would have to say this spoon fits into this category, with a 4-sided column shaft and an 8-sided column handle with bright-cut designs.
Something is geometric about the design elements here, and it does look like an ancient egyptian obelisk.

The only marks are the "55" and the Gorham Sterling hallmarks that are 1875-1880 in character.

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Re: Gorham mystery spoon (not Isis not Hindoo)

Post by Aguest »

Another interesting detail: The inside of the bowl is parcel gilt, but the edges of the bowl and the back of the bowl are full mirror gilt.
This would have been a great full line, and would have gone down in history with Isis and Hindoo.
I would love to find out more about this piece and others like it, perhaps this is of interest to a Gorham scholar?
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Re: Gorham mystery spoon (not Isis not Hindoo)

Post by Aguest »

One of the earliest objects found at the Temple of Karnak was this small 8-sided column that mentions the god Amun-Re and is currently at the Luxor Museum. Perhaps this was the inspiration for the 8-sided handle of my spoon with its bright-cut engravings resembling hieroglyphics. Could be a coincidence?

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Re: Gorham mystery spoon (not Isis not Hindoo)

Post by Aguest »

Any ideas on what the number "55" is in reference to?
Some sort of internal order number system?
The Pattern Number 55 is completely different from this piece.
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Re: Gorham mystery spoon (not Isis not Hindoo)

Post by Aguest »

UPDATE: A leading sterling silver expert suggested this was most likely Pattern No. 55 but I still have my doubts based on the one blurry black-and-white pic that I have seen of Pattern Number 55. Anyway, I just thought I would post this because I have not given up searching for more information about this spoon which I believe has something to do with the Egyptian revival of the late 19th century.
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Re: Gorham mystery spoon (not Isis not Hindoo)

Post by Aguest »

An oyster server in Pattern Number 55

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Note the similarity in the hallmarks:

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And here is the pattern listed as "Number 55" which is archived on a big flatware pattern website:

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I am not sure what is going on here, but I did find a server with similar elements to my pieces which was hallmarked "35" and
I remember it had very similar elements, but it had a twist in the handle and it had an applied flower element on the handle.

I would like to find other pieces like the two servers that I have. Maybe this pattern only had servers in it, and not ordinary forks and spoons?
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