Featured Gorham coffee/tea service

These have recently come back into my possession, and I'm hoping to learn more about them. I know they are Gorham sterling, and I'm assuming mid-20th century. I'd like to know the pattern name (if there is one). The pieces are numbered A3601, A3602, A3604, and A3605. Is there a piece missing?

Also, I don't mind polishing silver, but how the heck do you polish the inside of these things?

 

The inside.....who looks at the inside ???

unless you wish to use them......they polish the same way as the outside....with more elbow grease !

oh....very lovely set !!!

 

My hand won't fit, and we don't have children!

 

do you have a brush for cleaning inside glasses???

or a soft foam scrubber?

 

Drool worthy ! At the risk of being nosy,may I ask what you meant by "came back into my possession?"

 

Our church offices are located in the former home of one of the early benefactors, and they have a few china and silver items on display in the dining room. I lent these about 20 years ago after my mother passed away, and thought it was time to get them back.

 

That's what I use to wash inside, but since I'm not using them, I don't really worry about it too much. Just a thought, but is there any real health risk to using something like this that's been thoroughly washed and rinsed on the inside, even if it's a bit tarnished?

 

You don't polish the inside. Just wash after use with a gentle sponge or cloth and dish soap.

 

Thanks. That's all I've ever done if I couldn't get my hand in. I have a water pitcher that does get polished on the inside, though.

 

What piece do you think should be with them and isn't? A slop bowl?

I see two tea pots and creamer and an open sugar bowl.

 

The A prefix to the numbers was first used in 1898 for pieces used in dining. Since there is no date mark, that's the best I can do for when they might have been made.

 

Well, I'm not sure. The numbers on the bottom are shown:
A3601
A3602
A3604
A3605

I don't know if there should be A3603 or not. Just wondering.

 

Older than I thought. Hmmm. Thank you.

 

That date is only the earliest possible and not an date indicator. There should be date codes on them and there are not.

I've been looking for other numbers in that range on Replacements and have only found A3608 but I am not done with the search.

 

Just got to the end of the R site's list of Gorham silver pieces that begin with A. Did not find A3603 or any of the numbers you already have. It's entirely possible that the missing number was assigned to a "waste bowl." Sets often also had a matching tray.

A3608 was a large vegetable bowl, but the photo is from a side angle that does not allow the viewer to see the decoration on the rim so I cannot say whether it actually matches your pieces.

 

If you want to polish the inside use a nice, soft foam scrubber and Wright's Silver Cream, a foaming silver polish

 

Does the pattern/design have a name? I know you said the date was a possible earliest, so in absence of any solid information, I think I'll say early to mid-20th century.

Don't spend too much time looking for a possible missing piece. I'm happy with a 4 piece set. Thank you for your help!

 

Nope. The prefix and numbers only, Not uncommon to see holloware idenified that way.

You're very welcome, Frank.

 

Just one more quick question. You said it looked like two tea pots. I thought the larger might be a coffee pot. Is it, instead, a tea pot?

 

It could be, but normally the spout of a coffee pot starts higher up on the body of the pot. Call it what you want.