Imperial Half Bushel • 831 N. Howard Street • Baltimore MD 21201 • USA

Home • Merchandise Indexes • Questions & Orders • Articles &c • Research Projects

Articles &c

This web page will act as an index for articles and other information that we hope will be of interest to our audience. Some of the articles may be condensed conclusions based on the information we have studied and developed over the years while others may only have a short descriptive note explaining some included original source material. Our articles, expository writing, and photographs are copyrighted; we do not mind your making copies for your personal study but please do not publish these materials or conclusions as your own. You are certainly welcome to study the original source materials and publish your own conclusions (especially contrary ones!). The index will be alphabetical by category heading and then subject matter with a brief description of the contents. Please access through the subject matter.

The Baltimore City Assay Office and Marks are of particular interest to us. We will be putting a short listing of the marks in our article section; for a fuller description and explanation of the reasoning in reassigning the dating that was published in Pleasants & Sill Maryland Silversmiths 1715-1830 (Lord Baltimore Press, 1930) please read the article "Marks on Baltimore Silver 1814-1860: An Exploration" by Patrick M. Duggan appearing in Silver in Maryland (Maryland Historical Society, 1983).

The earliest silverware catalogs issued by Baltimore manufacturers that I am aware of are the 1910 Stieff Co. and 1914 S. Kirk & Son Co. examples. The Kirk catalog shows a wide selection of the 'Repoussé' flatware pattern (first produce in the late 1880's); while the Stieff catalog shows a good selection of both the 'Rose' and the 'Chrysanthemum' patterns (both probably first produced in the late 1890's).

Last updated 6 January 2009