Souvenir spoon: Manhattan

1890-1900

Maker

Gorham Manufacturing Co. (1831-1986)
Charles Casper, retailer

Measurements

5-3/4 in x 1-1/8 in x 5/8 in

Materials

Silver with a gold-washed bowl

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.1202

Inscription

“THUS WAS MANHATTAN AGAIN / LEFT IN PRIMEVAL SOLITUDE / WAITING FOR COMMERCE / TO COME AND CLAIM / ITS OWN” is in raised lettering in the bowl.  Gorham touchmarks followed by “CHAS. CASPER” and “STERLING” are stamped into the back of the handle.

Provenance

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

Comments

A representation of the Statue of Liberty, erected in 1886, forms the handle tip.  The bowl has a Hudson River scene with two Indians in the foreground, a two-masted ship sailing to the left, and Indian tepees along the opposite shore.  The sky is filled with the long inscription, "Thus was manhattan again left in primeval solitude waiting for commerce to come and claim its own."  The verse anticipates Western settlement of the region and the arrival of "civilized life" and accompanying commerce--an attitude evocative of the late 19th century.

Charles Casper (1840-1904) organized the Meriden Silver Plate Company of Meriden, Connecticut, in 1869.

Bibliography

Accumulation & Display:  Mass Marketing Household Goods in America, 1880-1920 (The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1986), no. 192, p. 140.