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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DragonflyWink, post: 10225814, member: 111&quot;]It is the quality - Gerrit Dirksen (1818-1903) was a German immigrant, a silversmith trained by his father, who was a specialist in filigree work, he was a farmer near Freeport, IL before moving to town and opening a grocery store.&nbsp; The grocery store was closed when he had success making and selling filigree from his backroom workshop, including many objects other than flatware, the business expanded and his popular exhibit at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago added to his success, though it waned in the early 20th century, out of business by 1905.</p><p><br /></p><p>There weren&#039;t a lot of American makers working in filigree, New York firm J.N. Provenzano made some, and Providence, RI based Campbell-Metcalf produced a bit of filigree and plique-à-jour, as did a few anonymous makers, but none the quality of Dirksen.&nbsp; There were some New Mexico jewelers that offered &#039;Mexican-style&#039; filigree done by local workers, delicate and quite lovely, the best known was Solomon Spitz (another German immigrant), their filigree handles often soldered to bowls from spoons by Whiting Mfg. and other makers, including Gorham who produced a die-struck souvenir spoon bowl for them.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is a crummy old composite pic of a Dirksen teaspoon I acquired about 25 years ago, engraved &#039;1892&#039; date, the blank made by Chicago based Wendell Mfg. Co.:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]510961[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>~Cheryl[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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