Museum accessions

Magazine Antiques, April, 2003 by Eleanor H. Gustafso

In less than two decades the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas brought together a remarkable collection of nineteenth-century American silver Now by purchase and partial gift it has added the holdings of industrially produced twentieth-century silver and silver plate amassed by Jewel Stem, one of the leading scholars in the field, thus creating in an astonishingly brief time one of the world's foremost collections of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American silver.

Built over the course of a mere sixteen years, the Stem collection consists of more than three hundred objects and includes exceptional examples by the key designers of the twentieth century as well as pieces by virtually all the major American silver manufacturers at work between about 1925 and 2000. The latter include Tiffany and Company, the International Silver Company and the Gorham Manufacturing Company among others. An important criterion for Stem in selecting an object for her collection was that it have presence, regardless of its size. A fine example is the Gorham mayonnaise bowl illustrated above. When she first encountered the piece, Stem thought it was probably a creamer orphaned from its original tea or coffee service. However, Gorham records revealed its true purpose and that the design was first produced in March 1934.

Another element that appealed to Stern in her collecting was the incorporation of color into a silver object by enameling, gilding, or adding semiprecious stones or Bakelite details. A striking example is the sterling silver cigarette box with graphic decoration in black and green enamel made by Tiffany and Company and advertised in Harper's Bazaar in September 1937. The box was also available with black enameling in combination with either red or cobalt blue.

Enamel also decorates the sterling cocktail shaker illustrated at right. The shaker bears the leaf hallmark of the Charter Company a division of the International Silver Company which registered Charter's leaf mark in August 1930. The shaker was offered separately or with matching stemmed "cocktail cups" and a tray and came with or without enamel decoration. The undecorated version was pictured in the July 1928 issue of Vogue, in an article entitled "Twentieth-Century Decoration: The Modem Theme Finds a Distinctive Medium in American Silver.' Interestingly, Stern's re search at the Meriden Historical Society in Connecticut, the repository of the International Silver archives, turned up the shaker sets in an undated sales catalogue issued by the Barbour Silver Company another branch of International Silver that closed in 1931. The enameled shaker was priced at $200; a complete set with a tray and twelve cocktail cups cost $725, a fortune at the time.

Extremely popular in the 1920s and 1930s, cocktail shakers were also produced in more whimsical styles, such as "The Penguin, A Bird of a Shaker" (above right) made by the Napier Company and offered by Hammacher Schlemmer of New York City in the New Yorker on September 19, 1936. "Master of ceremonies at successful parties," the advertisement reads, "the perkiest shaker that ever poured a cocktail. And how he pours!... right from his beak with never a spill. Holds 1 1/2 quarts in his fat insides' Designed by Emil A. Schuelke and patented by the Napier Company the penguin was available in silver plate for $12.50 or in the deluxe version with gilt details shown here, for $25.

RELATED ARTICLE: Mayonnaise bowl made by the Gorham Manufacturing Company (1831-), Providence, Rhode Island, c. 1934. Marked with Gorham's lionanchor-G on the bottom. Silver, length 6 1/2 inches. The objects illustrated are in the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas, Jewel Stern American Silver Collection. Acquired through the Patsy Lacy Griffith Collection, gift of Patsy Lacy Griffith by exchange.

Cigarette box made by tiffany and Company (1837-), New York City, c.1937. Marked "TIFFANY & co. STERLING". Silver and enamel; height 1 5/8, length 6 1/2, width 4 1/2 inches. Gift of Jewel Stern.

Cocktail shaker made by the Charter Company, a division of the International Silver Company (1898-), Meriden, Connecticut, c. 1928. Marked with an oak leaf in a square on the bottom. Silver and enamel, height 14 inches. Acquired through the Griffith Collection, gift of Patsy Lacy Griffifth by exchange.

Cocktail shaker made by the Napier Company (1922-1999), Meriden, c. 1936. Marked "NAPIER" and "PATENTS PEND." on the bottom. Silver. plate and gilt, height 12 inches. Stern gift.