Souvenir spoon: William McKinley
Washington, D.C.
1897
Maker
Moore & Leding
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
1971.1070
Inscription
“PROTECTION / PROSPERITY” are inside the bowl; “SOUND MONEY” is on the shaft.
“STERLING / MOORE & LEDING / PAT 9[?, probably 7]” are on the back of the handle.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
The spoon celebrates the 1896 election of William McKinley (1843-1901). It features the Presidential Seal on the underside of the bowl and an Image of the Capitol on the back of the handle. On the face of the spoon are “PROTECTION," "PROSPERITY, and “SOUND MONEY,” all catch-words of McKinley's campaign. McKinley was inaugurated on March 4, 1897. 1897 appears to be the patent date on the back of the spoon and is when the spoon was most commercially viable.
McKinley ran as a Republican in 1896 against William Jennings Bryan. He was re-elected in 1900 and assassinated on September 14, 1901, in Buffalo, New York.
Bibliography
Accumulation & Display: Mass Marketing Household Goods in America, 1880-1920 (The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1986), no. 172, p. 134.
