Catalog: Antiques (495)

An elegant sterling silver pierced olive spoon with an ornately pierced gilt bowl and and the handle decorated with wild roses enclosed in a curving border. The back is marked “Sterling Pat. 1903”.

Origin: America, ca. 1903. Condition: excellent, sharp detail, original gilding intact, no monogram. Dimensions: 6-3/8” long. Weight: 13.4 grams.

A superb Victorian Art Nouveau baby rattle, the handle carved from a large piece of mother-of-pearl and adorned on either side with a gorgeous Art Nouveau lady's head worked in sterling silver and finished with three silver bells. Although unsigned, the particulars of the design are very similar to a known Unger design. Marked "Sterling".

Origin: America, ca. 1895. Condition: excellent except for the bells which show considerable wear from a toothing child. Size: 4-1/2" long.

Elegant sterling silver meat fork featuring an Art Nouveau design of lilies. The back is marked for Baker-Manchester Manufacturing Co. (Providence, RI). The company was in business for only about fifteen years, and was well known for its ornate serving pieces.

Origin: America, circa 1900. Condition: excellent; no monogram; the faintest hint of lemony matte gilding remains on the tines. Size: 7" (more uncommon than the larger size).

Sterling silver cream or sauce ladle with an Art Nouveau design of lilies. This form was used to ladle cream or other sauces for the desert course. They could also be used for main course sauces that did not require a full-sized gravy ladle. The reverse is marked "Sterling Pat. 1902". Before 1916, many American silversmiths did not mark their name on flatware. Unknown maker.

Origin: America, circa 1902. Condition: excellent, no monogram. Size: 4-3/4" long.

A lovely sterling silver fancy serving fork in an unnamed Art Nouveau pattern by the Baird-North Co. The handle is beautifully decorated with a thorny vine of wild roses. The back is decorated in a simpler design of roses. The splayed tines are ornately pierced. A fork of this shape would probably have been used to serve bacon, but it might also be useful for cold meats. The reverse is marked “Sterling/Pat. 1903”. There is no maker’s mark (maker’s marks were not legally required until 1906), but we’ve had pieces in this pattern that have bear Baird-North’s hallmark.

Origin: America, ca. 1903-1906. Condition: excellent, sharp detail, no monograms. Size: 8” long. Weight: 35.5 grams.

Exceedingly rare custom-made sterling silver golf trophy by Shreve & Company, California's premier 19th century silversmiths. The trophy, in the form of wine ewer or pitcher and displaying the sinuous curves of the Art Nouveau style, is fainly reminiscent of some of Gorham's Martélé pieces. The body is decorated with a superb applied design cast in the form of a laurel wreath woven with golf clubs. The quality is breathtaking. Notice that one club is a putter, and the other is an wood. The body is raised on an assymetrically lobed foot decorated with applied thistle blossoms and foliage--reminding the viewer of golf's Scottish heritage. The ewer is finished with an exagerated curving handle. The trophy was never engraved. The bottom is marked "Shreve & Co./San Francisco/Sterling". This is a simply phenomenal piece of earlier California silver and a phenomenal piece of silver trophy art.

Origin: America, ca. 1900. Condition: excellent, a 1/2" flat ding on one side (could be professionally removed). Size: 12-3/4" tall. Weight: 941.0 grams.

A lovely set of six sterling silver and plique-a-jour enamel cocktail picks by acclaimed Norwegian silversmith and enamelist Johan G. Kjaerland. Kjaerland worked in Bergen, Norway, and was particuarly well-known for his excellent plique-a-jour enamels. This is the first set of cocktail picks we've seen in plique-a-jour. Each is hallmarked appropriately.

• Origin: Norway, ca. 1900
• Condition: excellent, no enamel damage, gilding intact
• Dimensions: 3-11/16" long
• Weight: 16.7 grams

Phenomenal Art Nouveau crystal shallow bowl, the bottom with intaglio engraving of a large pansy blossom. The flowers petals are beautifully handpainted in shades of burgundy and then gilt. The flower is surrounded by translucent foliage. The scalloped rim of the bowl is gilt to coordinate with the floral decoration. This piece, with its single large flower, is much more assertive than the more common small reverse-carved pieces such nappies and short compotes. We're not certain if the bowl is Bohemian or French. The pansy was a very popular floral motif in France during the Art Nouveau period. The French word for pansy ("pensée") is also the word for thought and the floral image was often employed to signify and sentimental gift of remembrance or affection.

Origin: Continental Europe, ca. 1890. Condition: excellent, no chips or cracks, 98% of painting and gilding intact. Size: 10-1/2" diameter; 1-1/2" high.

An elegant Art Nouveau glass vase decorated with enameled poppies. The blossoms are worked in shades of cream, yellow, rose and violet, while the foliage is stained a reddish-purple and highlighted with complex lacy gilding. The upper rim is decorated with a band of stained and gilt flowers, as well. The vase is blown in pillar form with an optic paneled design. The workmanship is very fine. Unsigned, but definitely made by Mont Joye (also know as Verreries Saint-Denis and Legras).

Origin: France, ca. 1900. Condition: excellent, no cracks, no enamel or gilding wear. Size: 9-1/4”.

An elegant Art Nouveau glass vase decorated with enameled poppies. The blossoms are worked in shades of cream, yellow, rose and violet, while the foliage is stained a reddish-purple and highlighted with a complex, lacy pattern of gilding. The upper rim of the vase is decorated with a band of stained and gilt flowers, as well. The vase is blown in pillar form with an optic paneled design. The workmanship is very fine. Unsigned, but almost certainly the product of Mont Joye (also known as Verreries Saint-Denis or Legras).

Origin: France, ca. 1900. Condition: excellent, no cracks, no enamel or gilding wear, a 1/32" flake at the upper rim. Size: 8".

Extraordinary majolica tile raised on bun feet. The tile features a sinuous painted Art Nouveau design of elegant swans swimming in a river with a cityscape beyond, surrounded by a border of bamboo. The design has a distinctly impressionist look that brings to mind some of the Rookwood vellum patterns. The bottom is impressed "66" and has an illegibly impressed maker's mark.

Origin: European, circa 1880. Condition: superficial glaze scratching from normal wear; glaze crazing only on the underneath side. Size: 9.25" square; 1.5" high.

A beautiful Art Nouveau panel-cut crystal vase, the surface completely etched in a swirling design of flowers resembling columbines. The etching is highlighted with soft gilt details that bring out the depth of the pattern. The rim of the vase is finished in a sawtooth pattern derived from the shapes of the engraved blossoms. Although often attributed to Moser, this style of engraving with gilt highlights is typical of the Art Nouveau designs from the great Bohemian glasshouse Harrach. The quality of the crystal itself, as well as the workmanship, easily illustrates why Harrach was considered a primary competitor to Moser.

Origin: Bohemia, ca. 1910. Condition: excellent, no chips or cracks, gilding intact. Size: 14-1/2” tall.

Lovely sterling silver bowl by Gorham. The bowl is basically formed in the traditional Revere style, but has a folded over rim enhanced with an Art Nouveau border of waterlilies and lilypads. With Gorham's usual attention to detail, the waterlilies are presented in several stages of development from early bud to full bloom. The bottom is marked with Gorham's hallmark along with date mark for 1898.

Condition: very good; the decorative detail is very crisp; the interior of the bowl shows light scratching from normal use; there is one pinpoint ding on the bottom of the bowl; retains lemony-tinted gilding in and near the decorative areas; no monograms or removals. Size: 6.5" diam.; 2.25" high. Weight: 8.8 troy ounces.

A delightful bronze dresser mirror, the entire frame ornately decorated in the form of two Pierrot figures and a smiling man-in-the-moon. Pierrot was a originally a Comedia dell’Arte character, but in the 18th century, he and the moon became inextricably linked in the French children’s song, “Au Claire de la Lune.” There are a few variations of this mirror; this is the most ornate, with the intricately beveled glass. The detailing of the figures is excellent.

Origin: France, ca. 1900. Condition: excellent, all original; the glass has very light tarnishing typical of old silvered mirrors. Dimensions: 4-3/4” x 8-1/2”.

A nice stoneware ewer in an unusual form by Doulton Lambeth. The bulbous body is decorated with raised flowers and foliage against a cobalt blue ground, while the foot and long tapering neck are finished in a simple pattern of incised rings highlighted with chocolate brown borders. The inside of the foot is stamped with the mark used 1891-1902 and also with the artist's mark which appears to be a conjoined "JH", "HL" or possibly just an ornate "H". There is also an assistant's mark, "b".

Origin: England, ca. 1895. Condition: no chips or cracks. Size: 11-5/8" tall.

A handsome chartreuse-cut-to-clear low bowl cut with a ring of printies near the lip and another ring of overlapping printies lower on the sides. Unsigned, but almost certainly Val St. Lambert.

Origin: Belgium, ca. 1920. Condition: no chips or cracks. Size: 9" diameter; 2-3/8" high.

Stunning set of four enameled cocktail glasses, almost certainly by Moser. The quality of the glass is superlative. The enameled rooster motif is magnified through the thick glass of the base, so that it looks quite large from inside the bowl (it might be a bit frightening after drinking an entire martini!) The bowls are lightly paneled and are edged in a thin line of gilding.

One glass has a flake at the bottom edge (see photo) and two pinpoint roughnesses along the top rim. Another has a couple of pinpoint roughnesses underneath the bottom edge (not noticeable from the top).

3-1/2" tall.

These are certainly among the finest cocktail glasses we've seen and would look great with a classic cocktail shaker featuring a rooster motif.

Porcelain decanter in the shape of a bellhop, complete with his ring of keys, decorated with overglaze red, black and pink enamels. The bottom is marked "Germany" and also has a decorator's mark.

Origin: Germany, ca. 1920. Condition: Light glaze crazing; a small chip on the cap and three small flakes at the bottom edge are visible in the photos (all could be easily repaired). Size: 9-1/2" tall.