Item number: 58339
A rare sterling silver serving spoon or serving fork,
London 1877 by George Adams
A rare serving spoon or fork (“spork”) in King´s Husk pattern by George Adams.
The spoon is a good gauge and from one of the best-known silversmithies specialising in cutlery of the 19th century in Britain.
22.2 cm / 8.74″ length; 98.0 g / 3.15 oz
The silversmithy of George Adams
After the death of the very successful flatware maker William Chawner in 1834, his wife Mary Chawner took over the silversmithy on a temporary basis until their son William Jr. was old enough to continue the parental workshop. William, however, decided to pursue a clerical career, so that the husband of Mary Chawner’s daughter – George Adams – continued the workshop with his mother-in-law instead. A joint maker’s mark was registered from March to November 1840. George Adams then took over the silversmithy completely and ran it under the company name Chawner & Co. together with his maker’s mark “GA” with great success. The company exhibited its silver flatware at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and became one of the largest manufacturers of high quality silverware in Victorian England. The Chawner & Co. pattern book, published in 1875, became the encyclopaedia for Victorian cutlery patterns. It served as the basic structure for Ian Pickford’s reference work, which has since become a standard work.
In 1883, George Adams sold the company to Holland, Aldwinckle & Slater, which was continued into the 20th century by Francis Higgins Ltd.
