Souvenir spoon: 1893 Columbian Naval Review
Probably Providence, Rhode Island
1893
Maker
Probably Howard Sterling Co. (1886-1902)
Measurements
6 in x 1-1/4 in x 3/4 in
Materials
Silver
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1083
Inscription
“HAMPTON ROADS NEW YORK” is inside the bowl; “NAVAL REVIEW” and “1893” appear on the face of the handle. "MCW" in script is engraved on the underside of the handle tip.
Provenance
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Comments
This elaborately detailed and well-made spoon celebrates the April 1893 gathering of naval warships representing ten nations honoring the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage to the Caribbean. They sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to New York Harbor. The scene inside the spoon bowl shows many ships. The circular handle tip is a ship's steering wheel or helm enclosed by an anchor.
In the undecorated underside of the helm, Mary Corbit Warner's three initials are engraved.
The maker is identified only by the four-leaf clover mark that accompanies "STERLING." Information about the Howard Sterling Co. varies, but an 1898 advertisement mentions salesrooms in New York City. The firm also had a salesroom in San Francisco.
Bibliography
Accumulation & Display: Mass Marketing Household Goods in America, 1880-1920 (The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1986), no. 163, p. 130.
