Description:
Silver tablespoon with a pointed oval bowl, rounded shoulders, and upturned fiddle-end handle with a short midrib, which is marked "FOWLE" in a conforming rectangle attributed to Nathaniel Fowle (c.1788-1852), and engraved with the initials "BAR" on the front of the handle. According to Patricia Kane: "In recent literature Nathaniel Fowle, who was a silversmith in Northampton, Massachusetts, working circa 1816-33, has been confused with another Nathaniel Fowle, whose life dates are 1748-1817. The latter Nathaniel Fowle is usually identified as a tailor in the Hampden County land records in the 1770s and 1780s. He and Bejamin Tappen probably shared workspace in Northampton between 1785 and 1806. The birth date for the Nathaniel Fowle who was the silversmith has yet to be established. The relationship between the two Nathaniel Fowles in the Connecticut Valley and the Nathaniel Fowle who advertised as a jeweler and watchmaker with John Fowle in Boston about 1809 is not known." According to "Reminiscences of Old Northampton, sketches of the town as it appeared from 1840 to 1850" published in 1902, "Next below Stoddard & Lathrop's was the jewelry store of John H. Fowle, who succeeded his father, Nathaniel Fowle, originally a tailor. The Fowles were in business at 'this stand more than sixty years. A fixture at this store was Seth Wright, chief clerk and watch repairer.." HD has a spoon marked "J.H. FOWLE / NORTHAMPTON" (HD 61.546).
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+61.545 |
