Souvenier spoon: Fort Ticonderoga
Troy, New York
Patented June 16, 1891
Maker
F.W. Sim & Co. (1847-c. 1930)
Measurements
4-1/4 in x 7/8 in x 5/8 in
Materials
Silver with gold-washed bowl
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1115
Inscription
“FORT / TICONDEROGA”, “1775”, and “ETHAN ALLEN” all appear on the handle, along with “I Demand this fort in the name of the great / Jehovah and the Continental Congress” oriented down the handle shaft.
“STERLING F.W.SIM & CO. PATENTED JUNE 16.1891.” is on the back of the handle.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
The quotation, “I demand this fort in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,” is attributed to Ethan Allen, one of the military leaders in the 1775 capture of Fort Ticonderoga, a formerly French star fort in New York at the southern end of Lake Champlain. The handle is a rococo-revival shape.
This spoon is illustrated and discussed in Anton Hardt, Souvenir Spoons of America (1891), p. 47. In the discussion, the author identifies the patent date as June 6, but the marked date is clearly June 16.
