Table spoon (one of a set of three)

1790-1805

Maker

Probably Jacob Wolf (dates unknown)

Measurements

9-5/8 in x 1-7/8 in x 1 in

Materials

Silver

Credit Line

On loan from Winterthur

Accession Number

1975.23

Inscription

"EL" is engraved into the top front of the handle; "I.WOLF" in relief within a rectangle is stamped into the underside of the handle.

Condition Notes

One side of the tip of the bowl is worn on each spoon from use.

Provenance

Ex coll. Miss Margaret Janvier Hort.  The spoons were purchased from Hort by Winterthur.

Comments

This set of three table spoons was purchased from Miss Margaret Janvier Hort, an accomplished researcher and genealogist of the Janvier family.  On her bill of sale dated February 6, 1975, she identified the spoons as “3 serving spoons with monogram E. L. (Eliza Lewden) made by James Wolf, Wilmington Delaware.”  The maker’s mark has not been associated with that Wolf, whose name was General James Wolf (1779-1858), General being his given name and not a military rank.  He was born to late to have made spoons of this style.  The maker is more likely Jacob Wolf, a relatively unknown individual.  For more information, see Donald F. Fennimore, Delaware Silver:  the Col. Kenneth P. & Regina I. Brown Collection (Dover, Del.:  Biggs Museum of American Art, 2008), pp. 296-312; Catherine B. Hollan, Philadelphia Silversmiths and Related Artisans to 1861 (McLean, Va.:  Hollan Press, 2013), p. 223.

The E L initials have not yet been positively identified.

The three table spoons have ovoid bowl, straight shafts, and handle tips that curve backward.