Souvenir spoon: Montreal

Patented in 1896

Maker

P.W. Ellis & Co (1877-1928)

Measurements

5-1/4 in x 1 in x 3/4 in

Materials

Gold-washed silver and enamel

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.1169

Inscription

“CONCORDIA SALUS [“well-being through harmony”] / MONTREAL” is in the crest at the tip of the handle.  “ST.PETERS MONTREAL. / CATHEDRAL” is in the bowl.  The handle back is struck twice with “STERLING” and “E” within a maple leaf touchmark.  “R’G’D.96” accompanies the marks in the back of the handle tip.

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner

Comments

The spoon has a crabstock (i.e., imitating a twig branch) handle that terminates with a repoussé (a technique in which metal walls contain enamels) crest of the city of Montreal.  A beaver, a symbol of industriousness as well as an important local animal, surmounts the crest.

The bowl pictures a cathedral in Montreal, identified as St. Peter’s.  Its dome was modeled after the Roman building, but the rest of the structure differs.  Building began in 1875.  It was consecrated in 1894 as Saint James Cathedral.  In 1955, it was rededicated as Mary, Queen of the World.

Bibliography

Accumulation & Display:  Mass Marketing Household Goods in America, 1880-1920 (The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1986), no. 175, p. 135.