Tablespoon

1855

Place madeNew York, New York, United States, North America

Silver

Overall: 8 1/2 × 1 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (21.6 × 4.4 × 3.2 cm)

Gift of the Honorable Perry Belmont

1936.364

On December 28, 1855, the Chamber of Commerce and Merchants of New York presented Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry with a 381-piece silver dinner service in acknowledgement of his successful negotiation of a treaty with Japan in 1854. In the letter of presentation the committee remarked, "To have brought this secluded Empire, into the intercourse of nations; is an achievement which may justly be ranked, among the greatest events of the age..."

DescriptionOne of a group of thirty-six silver tablespoons with upturned wavy-end handles with foliate decoration; pointed oval bowls with leaf decoration; undersides of the handles engraved with the Perry family crest, an anchor on fess below a hind's head; makers' marks stamped on the undersides of the stems.

Markingsengraved: on the undersides of the handles: the Perry family crest, an anchor on fess below a hind's head stamped: on the undersides of the stems: "Wm. GALE & SON" in roman letters

ClassificationsSILVER