Description:
Silver bow-type sugar tongs by Baldwin Gardiner (1791-1869) with the touchmark "B*G" in roman letters with a pellet in between in a rectangle, and the psuedo-hallmarks of a lion passant, "W" and kings head, and engraved with the initials "NAP" in script on the rounded end. 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. The E.H. Williams 1838 probate inventory lists: "1 Silver Sugar Tongs 2.25".
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+90.183 |
