Featured Gorham Sterling....nope COPPER?? Teapot!

I never ever in my wildest dreams thought I would see a Gorham teapot in copper. Evidently, they were made! They are coming up for sale at a local auction, next week. Whatcha think?

 

Cool!!

 

I had no idea, either!
Googling reveals quite a lot of Gorham copper items, including teapots.

 

not teapots.. they are both kettles ,,,

 

Just for clarification: Kettles are for boiling water, teapots are for brewing tea.

 

I think they are delightfully wonderful..........

 

Very stylish with lovely contours.

 

I love them both. Will you be bidding on them? I would at least try. The one on the left looks like it could go high. Maybe one to sell, and one to keep?

 

I'm sure they will sell separately. I will try for the one on the left.

 

I'm sure you could make tea in a kettle. I have poached eggs in one in a hotel room. We also emptied the mini bar onto the side and put our perishables in it for the duration.

 

I"m not sure I'd want to brew tea in copper, but I'd have the kettle on stand in a heartbeat. The other one too, for that matter.

 

Yes, I'm sure you could find many ways for using a one, I was simply stating the intended uses of a teapot vs a kettle, which is a major differentiation between the two.

 

Just been digging. They have made some mixed metal ones too with copper base and silver tone metal highlights in relief. Really nice contrast.

 

Gorham is a weakness for me, they were prolific, as well as incredibly innovative in the mid to late 19th century (especially the 1870s-'80s), like the use of other metals, including copper, brass, bronze (they had a foundry), aluminum, even iron (with applied silver elements), they also occasionally produced gold pieces. There was often a Japanese influence, as well as other cultures, and there was a line called 'Cairo' produced in silver speckled with bits of copper, bronze and brass, both holloware and flatware.

The pieces shown were part of a pricy handwrought copper line introduced in 1881, pretty much out of production by the end of the decade (the date code 'O' for 1882 can be seen in the last image pic), it had an unusual 'glazed' surface, that held up well and highlighted the different shades of the metal. They also produced some Art Nouveau silver and copper pieces in the early 20th century, as well as copper-lined, silver-mounted leather 'Blackjack' cups and tankards.

I still have a bit of regret about selling a Gorham 'Sterling & Other Metals' card tray with a sweet applied copper mouse decades ago - but it did make the mortgage and more...

~Cheryl

 

For any interested in silver, and American in particular, the Rhode Island School of Design launched an exhibit of part of their Gorham collection in 2019, the associated book, Williams' 'Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850-1970' is quite wonderful (told the exhibit was fabulous). Prior to its release, the only modern references specific to Gorham were Carpenter's 'Gorham Silver, 1840-1941' (1982) and a 2002 volume on their 'Martelé' line (I have both), so as soon as I heard, I pre-ordered the book, eager to add it to my library (such a silver-geek).

Have a bit of time, so went to the RISD Museum site and pulled up images of pieces of copper or with copper (had forgotten that 'Cairo' was originally called 'Curio'), here are the pieces they have online, though a pair of likely Old Sheffield Plate candlesticks that were 'Replated by Gorham Co.' also appear:

https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection?search_api_fulltext=gorham+copper&has_images=1


And just because it's amazing, the silver-mounted writing table and chair created for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair:

https://risdmuseum.org/manual/117_the_long_road_home_the_gorham_writing_table_and_chair




~Cheryl

 

Marie Antoinette would have approved.

 

Makes me wonder if anyone tossed their old Gorham silver/copper mixed metals items because they thought the plating was worn off.

 

You can bet somebody did! I'd hope to find it in the "cheap silverplate" pile at a rummage sale. Crazier things have happened.

 

Gorhams work is so good. I was going to mention Gorhams bronze foundry but Cheryl beat me to it. They did a large output of bronze statues/sculptures by many of the days top artists. They sell for very good prices. I had one once that the seller knew was good but didn’t realize how good. They also did an awful lot of production for Tiffany & Co.. I’m not sure if they were the biggest provider of silver to Tiffany but they were one of the biggest for sure. Their mixed metal work was awesome.

I actually prefer the kettle on the right.

 

me too !