Rare Hand Made Baby Bowl Underplate Set Reed Barton 950 Sterling Silver Mono

Majestic high quality hand made 950/100 sterling silver baby bowl with underplate, both decorated with repousse floral patterns as well as applied floral rims. 

This is the rare Reed and Barton version of Gorham's Martele.

The bowl has engraved monograms - "LAH" and "MKS", and engraved inscriptions: "Louise Adams Hooper 13th January 1910" & "Mollie Kennard Smith 15th May 1931" along the body. The underplate also has monogram "LAH" and inscription "Mollie Kennard Smith 15th May 1931" in the center. Made by Reed & Barton, marked 85A 950/1000.

This rare set measures: the bowl is 5 1/4" in diameter and 2 3/4" tall; the plate is 6 7/8" in diameter. Total weight is 461.3 grams or 14.8 Ozs. Troy.

The soft, warm, original finish is present, with no buffing or machine polishing.

The excellent original condition and clear detail, with no removals, repairs or alterations, make this an especially attractive offering.

[R10796]

Reed and Barton made a concerted effort to push their sterling line beginning in 1889. The company went into debt to purchase dies, tools, materials, etc. The treasurer, George Brabrook, speculated on silver by purchasing large amounts of it just prior to passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 after which silver prices mounted rapidly. According to The Whitesmiths of Taunton, old employees told of seeing storage vaults piled to the roof with silver bars. Brabrook was known to have an artistic disposition and believed in the idea of restricted output sold at high prices. Perhaps this led him to spearhead an effort to go head to head with the handmade silverwares that Gorham was experimenting with in the latter half of the 1890's. Any such effort would have been short lived as William Dowse was installed as president in 1901. Dowse's philosophy was completely opposite to Brabrook's. Dowse was a strong proponent of mass production and in selling everything possible to as wide a market as possible.

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