1886 Gorham Sterling Whatsit - Holloware

[bakersgma]

During a recent visit to my sister-in-law she showed me this beautiful item she inherited several years ago, of which she has never known the purpose. I volunteered to help find out for her and I am hoping someone here might be able to find it in an old catalog or other reference material because I have been unable to find anything like it online.

As you will see in the pictures, it's about 6 inches long, 1 1/2 inches wide and the same tall (interior measurements not including the handles.) The design motif is sealife, with applied fish on the inside, scallop-shell handles that also have a crab, a limpet and seaweed on and around, and wave-like undulations on the bottom and sides, enhanced with gold wash. It doesn't look like it ever had a lid.

It's gorgeous, but what was it intended for?

[JLDoggett]

A serving dish for oyster crackers or maybe sardines? I had a Gorham spoon that would have matched those handles it was C.1900.

[Hose_dk]

The handles being shell give a good clue. And the fish at the bowl.
I like it very much.

[dragonflywink]

Gorham made a number of pieces with similar applied cast 'sea-life' elements in the 1880s-90s, probably the best known being the 1884 introduced Narragansett pattern of several different flatware serving pieces, the fish set and the oyster forks (only known place pieces) were the only seafood related items. It also typically has those little 'grains of sand' that appear on the handles here, and 'Narragansett-style' might be an appropriate term for this piece. It could just as easily be something like a pin dish/tray, similar designs showed up on a variety of items; I only have a few Gorham catalogs, but below is an excerpt, showing at left a book-mark with similar seashells, etc. (and 'fishy' crawdad and mudcat book-marks on the right), and another showing a set of 5 o'clock tea spoons with several 'Narragansett-style' pieces. There is a CD set available containing numerous Gorham catalogs dating from 1880 to 1909, possibility this piece might show up in one of those.

~Cheryl

1888 Gorham book-marks:


1891 Gorham 5 o'clock spoons:

[JLDoggett]

The spoon I had was #4 on the right hand page.