Featured Antique Gorham serving pieces

A few nice pieces I believe are Gorham Chantilly collection. Pat.1895 hallmarked with lion,anchor,G Sterling . Not sure if that’s how old they are or just when the design was pat.? I couldn’t resist polishing them. I polished them by hand to a satisfying shine. Was I wrong to polish them?

 

when they were made they looked like this too......
polishing will not affect their age....

 

Were you wrong to polish them?

Absolutely not.

You MUST polish silver. If you don't, the tarnish builds up, and then it becomes damn near impossible to clean.

And that's when the real damage starts, because you need to use harder cleaning methods to remove even more stubborn tarnish, and that's when the silver starts wearing away.

 

They’re lovely, and even more so due to your polishing.

 

They are beautiful polished!

 

Good heavens!!!
Gone are the years of patina!!!
Ye gads!!!

Just kidding.

Many moons ago, I bought a service for 12 (Rodgers, cannot remember the pattern) from a local weekend dealer. I polished that silverware for years and it was in constant use until about 15 years ago when I sold it to a friend who "just had to have it."
Why have it and not take advantage of a beautifully set dinner table?

 

I think 1895 is when the design was patented and not necessarily when these pieces were made. Other members here will know more.

They look beautiful after polishing!

 

The marking on yours indicates only when the design was patented and not when made. This is usual way to interpret the appearance of a patent date.

Chantilly was reissued about 1950 and the marking is different - does not include the full lion anchor G but simply Gorham Sterling.

 

Chantilly, the very popular silverware pattern among 1950's brides.

Debora

 

Well, if you're just showing off your polishing skills then you deserve praise! You did a splendid job. If you are selling them, you can get a few dollars more for the polishing. Chantilly is my pattern. My husband won a basic service for 8 in a sales contest at his work. Well, he won the opportunity to select his prize from a catalog and of course, "we" selected the silver. That was years ago. While I no longer need extra pieces, I always looked for polished, clean pieces to buy. A potential buyer will buy these quickly. Folks always want their antiques to look brand new, don't they? The oldest piece of Chantilly I ever found was a Bird Fork, a small fork which I assumed was used to snarf up all the Passenger Pigeons in the world. Or maybe quail or other small edible birds.

 

I was a late '60's bride....my Mom purchased a full Gorham Chantilly set for 12 in the late '50's..... had it polished and put in one of those 'preserving' chests... to this day I have NEVER had to polish it and it looks as wonderful as @Silverking53's GREAT job polishing!

 

It's a very pretty pattern. One can understand its popularity.

Debora

 

Thank you.

 

Thank you

 

So do you think these are earlier than 1950? Seems the older pieces are marked with symbols rather than print.

 

Yes, that is what I implied in post#8. How much earlier I do not know and as far as I know there is no way to determine when.

 

Wow what a great prize. Do you have any photos of your bird fork? I have a small fork I don’t remember the maker. But I was thinking it was for snails or something small.‍♂️

 

Thank you again.