Souvenir spoon: Fort Ticonderoga

c. 1891

Maker

F. W. Sim & Co. (1847-c. 1930)

Measurements

5-3/4 in x 1-1/4 in x 3/4 in

Materials

Silver

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.1218

Inscription

“FORT TICONDEROGA”, “1775”, and “ETHAN / ALLEN” in raised lettering on the handle.  “I Demand this fort in the name of the great / Jehovah and the Continental Congress” runs down the handle shaft.  “STERLING F.W.SIM & CO.” with a touchmark is stamped into the back of the handle shaft.

“Edward Bringhurst III / Sept, 11. 1894.” Is engraved into the back of the handle.

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner

Comments

The quotation, “I demand this fort in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,” is attributed to Ethan Allen, one of the military leaders in the 1775 capture of Fort Ticonderoga, a formerly French star-shaped fort in New York at the southern end of Lake Champlain.

This spoon is illustrated and discussed in Anton Hardt, Souvenir Spoons of America (1891), p. 47.  In the discussion, the author identifies the patent date as 1891.

Spoon is almost identical to accession no. 1971.1115, except it is a larger size.  The die exhibits very slight differences in the positioning of some of the raised lettering on the handle face.  The smaller spoon, i.e., 1971.1115, bears a patent date of June 16, 1891.  That evidence combined with its appearance in the 1891 Souvenir Spoons publication establishes its time of manufacture.

Of interest, the back of the spoon is engraved with the name of Edward Bringhurst III and the date Sept. 11, 1894, three years after the spoon was first produced, thus documenting shelf-life for the souvenir spoon.  Edward's name and the date was almost certainly engraved at the request of Mary Corbit Warner, but the reasons and circumstances are unknwon.  He was a member of the wealthy Bringhurst family of Wilmington.  In 1892 the family moved into Rockwood Mansion.  Edward (1884-1939) may have been a childhood friend of Mary Warner's second son, John (1884-1911).  Another souvenir spoon featuring Mount Vernon also has Bringhurst's name engraved on it (accession no. 1971.1182).