Souvenir spoon: Old Witch House, Salem
Melrose Highlands, Massachusetts
1893-1915
c. 1895
Maker
Shepard Manufacturing Co. (c. 1893-1923)
Measurements
4-1/4 in x 7/8 in x 1/2 in
Materials
Silver
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1128
Inscription
“OLD WITCH HOUSE SALEM” is above the image in the bowl; “BUILT 1631” is along the bottom. “STERLING / S” are ont he back of the handle.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
The spoon displays the 1675 Jonathan Corwin House, popularly known as the Old Witch House. Judge Corwin was one of those who tried women accused of being witches in Salem in 1692. The spoon handle shows a witch (holding a broom?) and an owl below.
Bibliography
Accumulation & Display: Mass Marketing Household Goods in America, 1880-1920 (The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1986), no. 170, p. 134.
Note: The description in this catalogue appears to reference another spoon.
