Wedding Spoons

One of the challenges of sorting through the estate of family members that loved buying antiques is figuring out which items are actual family memorabilia and which items are just things they picked up at flea markets and junk stores.

When we were sorting through everything, we spotted the monogrammed H on a pair of tarnished spoons and set them aside in case the H stood for Harmon. The spoons had a date engraved on them, which we figured would help us decipher their history.

Since then, as I've been working through the family archived and genealogy, I've become familiar with the significant dates in the Harmon family tree. When I looked again at the spoons last weekend, I immediately knew what they were.

The date engraved on the spoons is September 19, 1906 (9.19.06). That's the day that Edward Harmon married Mollie Carson in her parent's home at Hughesville, Missouri. Ten years later, Mollie gave birth to their only child, James, who would eventually become my grandfather.

Hughesville, Missouri today is a tiny village, with fewer than 200 people. It was founded in 1871, located on a branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad line, with a small post office and general store. During its early years, the village's prominent citizens included immigrants from Scotland and Germany, as well as migrants from Eastern states like Kentucky.

Mollie's father, James Carson, was an Irish immigrant who worked as a farm laborer in Hughesville (1900 Census). Her mother, Narcissa Garner Carson, was only 15 when the couple married in 1860. Mollie, in contrast, was 28 when she married Edward Harmon (who was 38 and divorced).

Edward Harmon's father owned a farm near Kansas, Illinois. Edward and Mollie set up their own home there, and Edward worked as a carpenter. He was also an inventor: he received a patent in 1907 for a Combined Dumping and Platform Elevator.

The spoons were made by the R. Wallace Company of Connecticut, founded in 1835 by Robert Wallace of Prospect, CT. The production of silver-plated flatware was big business in Connecticut during the 1800s and early 1900s, with companies in Waterbury, Wallingford, Meriden, and other cities supplying the country (and the world) with fashionable and affordable utensils.

The company that made the Harmon family spoons was R. Wallace & Sons, based in Wallingford, CT.  Flatware marked "1835 R. Wallace" was the most expensive of the Wallace line. An advertisement from 1911 claimed that the 1835 R. Wallace flatware was made with extra silver plate "on the parts most exposed to wear." (McClure's Magazine, Marketplace of the World, April 1911, p. 109)

Kansas, Illinois was a thriving village of 1,500 people in 1905 (Encyclopedia of Illinois and the History of Edgar County, Edited by H. Van Sellar, 1905). The village included a hotel, several stores, electricity and telephone service. The spoons may well have been purchased in Kansas as a wedding gift for Edward and Mollie.

Artful Glass and Ceramics

Included in my grandparent's collection are a number of beautiful glass and ceramic objects. Here are a few of them, all of which will be available to purchase in July and August, when we have the GIANT Estate Sale. If you're planning ahead, I expect to be open for business nearly every day during those months.

One of a pair of blue vases.

The vases are signed, but I can't identify the mark. It could be a PK, or a fancy FPK, or DK.

Trunks

Although prying open crates proved disappointing, opening the numerous trunks has been much more satisfying. Here's one I opened one yesterday.

This is one of the smaller trunks, only about knee-high in height. (I really need to keep a tape measurer on-site.)

Unlike the crates, the trunks open with ease.

It's like opening a treasure box.

This particular trunk proved to be holding four items.

A pink kerosene lantern, banged up and missing its glass.

A tiny red kerosene lantern, a little banged up, but otherwise in good shape.

A heavily shellacked print in a rustic frame.

And one clock.

The clock is a Wm. L. Gilbert "Curfew" clock. The William L. Gilbert Clock Company, based in Winsted, Connecticut, operated from 1871 until 1934. The "Curfew" was produced in a number of variations during the twentieth century; one of the unifying features was the bell on top. The "Curfew" was produced during the early 1900s.

Back of the "Curfew" clock.

"Curfew" movement.

"Curfew" dial.

A slightly blurry photo of the maker's name on the dial.

One of the clock's feet.

Although the founder of the Gilbert Clock Company was long gone by the time this clock was produced, he is an interesting character, so I've put a little bit of his story into this post.

William Lewis Gilbert (1806-1890)  grew up on a Litchfield farm, moving to Winsted as an adult. He served in the State Legislature for two terms, during which time he pushed through the charters for the Winsted Bank and for the Connecticut Western Railroad.

William L. Gilbert, from Gilbert Academy and Agricultural College, 1893

Gilbert's clockmaking career began in 1828, when he partnered with his brother-in-law, George Marsh, in Bristol, Connecticut. This new business made clock parts for Jerome & Darrow for three years, before finally manufacturing entire clock movements. They relocated to Farmington for several years.

Gilbert returned to Bristol in 1835 to start a new company, called Birge, Gilbert & Co. This was soon followed by Gilbert, Grant & Co. In 1841, Gilbert relocated again, this time to Winsted, where he purchased a clock factory. The business expanded to Ansonia from 1857 until 1862, and to Williamsburg, NY from 1863 until 1871.

Disaster struck in 1871, when Gilbert's clock factory in Winsted burned down. Gilbert turned disaster into opportunity, reorganizing his business as the William L. Gilbert Clock Company and constructing new, larger, and improved factory buildings equipped with the best machinery.

Gilbert had a side business as a banker, taking over the former Winsted Bank building in 1867. He was also involved in the creation of a railroad line from Hartford to Millerton, NY. Both banking and railroads were highly profitable ventures during the nineteenth century, and Gilbert built up a small fortune.

Gilbert was a generous philanthropist, donating $800,000 to the town of Winsted and $50,000 to La Teche Seminary Agricultural College in New Orleans, which was renamed the Gilbert Academy and Agricultural College after his death. The Gilbert Academy began as a home for African-American orphans whose fathers died fighting in the Civil War, and eventually became a private high school for African Americans.

He also built a home for orphans in Winsted, spending his last Christmas with the children of the orphanage. The Gilbert Home for Friendless Children, established after his death, took in children whose parents could not afford to take care of them. Winsted's Gilbert High School, built with his bequest, was a semi-private school that educated boys and girls from Winsted and surrounding towns.

Gilbert's clockmaking company continued after his death, until 1957, when it became a division of the General-Gilbert Corporation. The clock division was sold to Spartus Corporation of Chicago in 1964.

The Lovely Ladies

So far I've found a number of "lovely ladies" -- statues of women that are all, most likely, part of other things.

The first is Athena in triplicate, part of a gas light set. I'm not quite sure yet how all the pieces fit together. It's a project for whoever buys it.

Detail of Athena gas light set.

The next is a small statue of a Greek figure, perhaps Aphrodite after being given the golden apple by Paris.

A classic Greco-Roman style figure, holding an apple in one hand.

There are screw holes and two screws in the base of the statue.
I don't yet know if whatever it was she stood on is here. It might be.

The next two ladies seem like the sort of sculptures you'd find on a mantle clock. Again, I have not yet matched them up to anything else.

This piece seems fairly complete at first: sculptural figure on a base.

From this view, it's clear that she was meant to be holding something.
There was nothing else in the box in which she was packed.

Whatever she was holding, she was certainly staring intently at it!

The fourth lady is the goat girl, as I call her. She's my favorite.

The newspaper she was wrapped in gives you a sense of scale. The details are exquisite, far better than what you would find on the average figural clock sculpture. Perhaps she goes with something else, or perhaps she is a stand-alone art object.

Detail view of her hair and floral hair ornaments.

Detail of the flower in her hand (which the goat is eyeing hungrily).