John A. Cole
Dessert Spoon (part of a set)

MakerAmerican, active 1830–1859
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Dessert Spoon (part of a set)
Datec. 1849
Probable placeNew York , New York, United States
MediumSilver
Dimensions6 7/8 in. length (17.5 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Audrey Jones Beck
Object numberB.88.17.1
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

The fiddle-thread handle was patterned after an English design. The date of its earliest manufacture by American silver-smiths is not known; however, by 1796, the Philadelphia smith Joseph Richardson records the production of spoons with threaded handles.

Related examples: See B.88.16.1–.5, B.88.18.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.


ProvenanceDr. Jasper Gibbs (1810–1876) and Laura Jane Drake Gibbs (1821–1855, m. 1839), and his second wife, Sallie Candler Gibbs (1839–1928, m. 1857), Mexia, Texas; given to their daughter Mary Gibbs (Mrs. Jesse H. Jones, 1872–1962); given to her granddaughter Mrs. John A. Beck (Audrey Jones Beck, 1924–2003), Houston; given to MFAH, 1988.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Engraved: Gibbs
Marked incuse: B&H
Marked: pseudohallmarks consisting of a head facing right, a lion passant, and C, each in a rectangle with canted corners [Belden 1980, p. 116, a]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Dessert Spoon (part of a set)
John A. Cole
c. 1849
Silver
B.88.17.3
Dessert Spoon (part of a set)
John A. Cole
c. 1849
Silver
B.88.17.2
Soup Spoon (one of set of five)
John A. Cole
c. 1849
Silver
B.88.16.1
Soup Spoon (one of a set of five)
John A. Cole
c. 1849
Silver
B.88.16.4
Soup Spoon (one of a set of five)
John A. Cole
c. 1849
Silver
B.88.16.5
Soup Spoon (one of a set of five)
John A. Cole
c. 1849
Silver
B.88.16.2
Soup Spoon (one of a set of five)
John A. Cole
c. 1849
Silver
B.88.16.3
Snuffbox
Albert Coles
1853
Silver with silver gilding
B.91.1
Teaspoon
Albert Coles
c. 1855–1877
Silver
B.87.18
Ladle
Albert Coles
c. 1840–1870
Silver, unidentified wood
B.2005.9
scan from file photograph
Joseph Rafel
c. 1852–1861
Silver
B.87.3.1