Souvenir spoon: Antler's Hotel, Colorado Springs
Probably Attleboro, Massachusetts
1891-1898
Maker
Attributed to Watson, Newell & Co.
Measurements
L: 5.5 in
Materials
Silver
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1069
Inscription
“COLORADO” is prominent in a banner across the middle of the handle. The Colorado State seal with “NIL SINE NUMINE” ("Nothing without Providence") is above.
“ANTLERS HOTEL. / COLORADO SPRINGS." is above and below an image of the hotel in the bowl.
“SEVEN FALLS” and “STERLING” are on the back.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
The spoon features the Colorado state seal with “NIL SINE NUMINE” (“Nothing without Providence”) above a pack burro ladened with mining tools. A miner is pictured below a diagonal banner with Colorado on it.
The spoon bowl shows the Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs. It opened in June 1883, and was damaged in a fire of October 1, 1898. It was dismantled, rebuilt, and re-opened in 1901.
Seven Falls is a natural attraction in Colorado Springs.
Several other spoons of very similar design—except specified to other locations or events—are known.
Bibliography
Accumulation & Display: Mass Marketing Household Goods in America, 1880-1920 (The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1986), no. 207, p. 146.
