Description:
Silver ladle with an horizontal elliptical bowl with a shaped molded drop, rounded shoulders, rectangular shaft with wide tapered upturned fiddle-end handle with a short midrib on the front, and a ribbed design on both sides of entire handle continuing on to the underside of bowl to form the drop. The ladle is marked "B. GARDINER" in roman letters in a rectangle for Baldwin Gardiner (1791-1869) and stamped "STERLING." in roman letters (probably added later). This ladle with its "fiddle thread" handle was a popular silver pattern in the 1830's and 1840's. Gardiner Baldwin began as an apprentice shopkeeper with his brother, the silversmith Sidney Gardiner (1785-1827), partner of Thomas Fletcher (1787-1866) in the Boston firm of Fletcher and Gardiner, which opened in 1808. Baldwin moved with Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner to Philadelphia in 1811 where the firm expanded quickly. The partnership of Gardiner, Veron & Co. dissolved in 1826, and Baldwin Gardiner moved to New York City where he established a furnishings warehouse stocked with items such as French gilt plateaus, candlelabras, and mantels, and filled special orders for silverware until 1847.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+1998.7.52 |
