Estate Find
Set of Four
Graff, Washbourne & Dunn
Sterling Silver
Shell Shaped
Open Salt Cellars
We offer a set of four sterling silver open salt cellars or nut dishes in the shape of seashells with two ball feet. They are marked “1748S” under the sterling logo used by the silversmiths Graff, Washbourne & Dunn who operated in New York City from 1899-1961.
The shells weigh in total 2.3 ounces ounces or 66 grams and measure 2 11/16” in width, 2 9/16” in depth and 1/2” in height.
As seen in the photographs, one shell has a tiny hole the size of a pencil point and another shell has an incomplete ball foot showing an opening.
Overall the four sterling silver shell shaped salts or nut dishes are in very good vintage condition.
Provenance
Frederick A. Howard Miller (July 23, 1878-August 20, 1930)
Frederick A. Howard Miller was born in London, England. He was educated in Scotland and worked as a physician in South Africa for several years before emigrating to the United States and beginning a new career as a ventriloquist and songwriter. He settled in Mount Clemens, Macomb County, Michigan about 1909 and began touring the U.S. with vaudeville shows, where he was billed as "The Great Howard." He was the composer of a number of published popular songs, and his biggest hit was a patriotic number published in 1917 entitled "Somewhere In France is Daddy." The Great Howard died at his Mount Clemens home on August 20, 1930.
Gordon H. Miller (September 14, 1909-August 31, 1963)
Detroit Free Press, September 2, 1963, p.3:
Gordon H. Miller, prominent Detroit-area horseman and amateur actor, suffered a fatal heart attack Saturday night in a polo match near Cleveland, O.
Miller, 53, of Rochester, collapsed during a match between the Rochester Rockets and the Rolling Green school team at Burton, O. Miller's son, Howard, 23, was playing on the same team with his father for their first appearance together in a regular match.
Owner of five polo ponies, which he trained at his West Wind Farm near Rochester, Miller was a rated amateur polo player with the American Polo Association.
Miller was well-known in horse show circles and was an active member of the Bloomfield Open Hunt Club.
He was also a well-known amateur actor and director in Detroit-area theater groups. He was a longtime member of The Players, Avon Players and the Detroit Fine Arts society. He was a former Michigan State University drama and speech teacher.
Miller was a script writer of commercial movies and worked for Jam Handy and served as senior vice president at Wilding Pictures Productions in Detroit.
G. Howard Miller (June 2, 1940-August 25, 2012)
G. Howard Miller was born to Gordon Howard and Mary Louise Miller on June 2, 1940 in Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
He attended Rochester High School in Rochester, Michigan, Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky and graduated 1962 with a degree in Speech at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Throughout his educational endeavors he was an avid polo player and an accomplished horseman in show jumping with his great horses Flanagan and Sur Passe, often winning in international events.
From 1960-1964, he was an instructor with the famous Black Horse Troop at Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana. From 1964-1966, he served as an instructor at the Detroit Riding Academy.
After 1967, Gordon worked in television production with KUAT-TV, University of Arizona, KOLD Television (Tucson, Arizona), WAVE Television (Louisville, Kentucky), WVUE Television (New Orleans, Louisiana), C.T.P. (Commercial Television Production) and KFTX 97.5 Real Country (Corpus Christi, Texas) as an account executive in radio advertising.
Noted for his community service, Gordon Howard Miller was honored in 1976 by Kentucky Governor Julian M. Carroll with an honorary commission as a Kentucky Colonel.