Souvenir spoon: San Diego
Seattle, Washington
1897-1905
Maker
Joseph Mayer and Brothers (1897-1938)
Measurements
5-1/2 in x 1-1/4 in x 1
Materials
Silver
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1101
Inscription
“San Diego” is along the shaft of the handle; “MARRIAGE PLACE / OF RAMONA” is near the image in the handle.
“STERLING” and the crossed tools and “M B” touchmark of Mayer and Brothers is on the back of the handle.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
The building identified on the handle as the Marriage Place of Ramona is the Casa de Estudillo, a historic adobe of the 1820s in San Diego State Historic Park. The 1884 novel Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) made the building a tourist attraction. The book dramatized the federal governments mistreatment of Indians. It was reprinted some 300 times.
