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Tablespoon

Tablespoon
Silver
Maker:  Richard Humphrey
1780
Tablespoon
Tablespoon
Silver
Maker:  Richard Humphrey
1780
Tablespoon Silver Maker: Richard Humphrey 1780
Status
On view
Label Text

When looking for proper silver spoons for George Washington's camp table, it is not surprising that Colonel Clement Biddle turned to Philadelphia silversmith Richard Humphreys. Humphreys was supportive of the war cause and had fashioned a silver hot-water urn in 1774 for the members of the First Continental Congress to present to Secretary Charles Thomson. This tablespoon was among the two dozen made by Humphreys for Washington in 1780. The feather-edged decoration on each appears on numerous examples of Washington's flatware and was perhaps favored by him for the sparkle it brought to a dining table lit by flickering candles.

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Date1780
Maker (American, 1749 - 1832)
Geography Made - United States
Medium/TechniqueSilver
DimensionsOverall: 9 in. x 1 3/4 in. x 1 1/8 in. (22.86 cm x 4.45 cm x 2.87 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mary Lee Bowman and Robert E. Lee IV, 1981
Object numberW-2535/B
DescriptionSilver tablespoon with round-tipped shaft, elongated oval bowl, and downturned handle with faint midrib and rounded drop; chased feather-edged border around edge of handle; obverse of handle engraved with George Washington's crest, a winged griffin issuing from a ducal coronet.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 96.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Silver," Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 519.

Kathryn Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1957), 35-36.

MarkingsMaker's mark on reverse of handle, in script: "R. Humphreys".
Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.
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