Souvenir spoon: USS Delaware
Attleboro, Massachusetts
c. 1910
Maker
Watson, Newell & Co. (1895-c. 1911)
Measurements
5 in x 1-1/8 in x 3/4 in
Materials
Silver
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
1971.1065
Inscription
“DELAWARE” is in raised lettering along the handle shaft. "LIBERTY AND INDEPENDENCE” is stamped along the bottom of the handle end. “USS DELAWARE” is in raised lettering inside the bowl.
“STERLING” and “MILLARD & DAVIS” are stamped into back of the spoon.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
This souvenir spoon was made on the occasion of the docking of the USS Delaware in Philadelphia in October 1910. The warship had been launched in 1909, fitted out for the next year, and moved to Philadelphia for a celebratory commissioning. Its silver service (now at the Delaware State Archives) made by the Gorham Manufacturing Company was presented on October 3. Millard F. Davis, whose name appears on the spoon, was a watchmaker and jeweler in Wilmington, Delaware. He supplied the silver service as well.
The USS Delaware was one of the "dreadnought" battleships armed with heavy caliber guns and speedy. It saw no action in World War I and was scrapped in 1924.
