About Michelle Lieberman Expertise My expertise is in the area of American sterling silver and coin silver flatware and holloware, including identifying silversmiths and makers, types and patterns of flatware and their usage. I am unable to answer questions pertaining to silverplate or foreign silver.
Experience With over 25 years experience in selling vintage silver, I now devote much of my time educating others in this field.
Education/Credentials BA California State University Los Angeles
Would you be able to help me with more information in regards to approx date of manufacture, Is The H W marks by Henry Webster and approx value of this mourning broach by Gorham. What I have been able to find is that the lion mark on most pieces of Gorham faces to the right and the anchor is vertical, on this piece the lion faces left and the anchor is horizontial and I am not sure of what the third mark is (Maybe a G ) I have also found that Henry Webster was a partner in Gorham and am curious if he could have made this broach and put his H W mark on it. Your valued opinion is greatly appreciated. I put a small picture of thre front of the broach in the main picture of the back of the broach, the HW marks are on the top and the hallmarks are on the bottom. Thank you Dave
Answer Hello Dave. Nice piece!
I don't quite know what to make of those marks, but I'm going to rule out Gorham for this one. Gorham did use a "lion facing left" mark up until about 1863 at which point the lion switched to facing the right, but the anchor is always upright and the G is a strong capital G that appears to be Times New Roman in type style. Gorham changed the G to an Old English style also around 1863.
Now let's look at Henry Webster. Webster began working about 1831 when he partnered with Jabez Gorham as Gorham & Webster. William Price was added as a partner in 1837 to become and Gorham, Webster & Price. The marks for those two partnerships spell out their business names in full. When that broke up in 1842, Webster worked under the name H.L. Webster & Co. Marks for this business are either spelled out in full or read H.L.W. & Co. Webster did go and work later for Gorham from 1843 to 1852 as foreman of the spoon manufactory, leaving their employ to start another new partnership with Joseph Knowles. These are important dates to know because Gorham started using the lion/anchor/G mark in 1852. So Webster either had just left or was about to leave Gorham at the same time they developed their renowned mark, but it's important to note that Webster wasn't working at Gorham in the capacity where he'd be making jewelry.
So you see I'm not crazy about the Henry Webster idea either. I have no reference books that show Webster using an HW or an H.W (that is a period I see there, yes?) mark, and the use of initials as a mark instead of a last name or first initial/last name mark had pretty much ceased by the time Webster started working.
Just what do you have? I don't know. The only person I'm aware of who used an H.W (with period) mark was Henry White of Fredericksburg, VA, but that mark isn't his. And if I'm mistaken about the period, the only people who used an HW mark are Henry Wills of NY, NY, (again, not his mark) and Henry Westermeyer from SC (my South Carolina reference is very sketchy about Westermeyer's mark, but does say it is in a coffin shaped punch, so again, not his mark).
So if we look outside the U.S., the first thing I think of is the U.K. - the lion passant and anchor mark for Birmingham. (This is funny, because I'm normally telling people who think they have a British piece that it's actually a Gorham piece - now I'm doing the opposite).
Normally the recessed area for the lion passant mark is in a semi-shield shaped form, but getting out my handy-dandy Jackson's Hallmarks book it looks like the shape of your mark was used from 1849 to 1900. If I could match up the letter of your mark to a date letter, we'd be all set. Of course I can't do that because it doesn't seem to fit anything. I certainly can't see it too well in your photo, but I copied it to my computer and have been flipping it upside down and back trying to figure it out and match it up with something. Still no match.
Well I've managed to say a whole lot and give you really no useful information. You can try and post a better photo of that letter mark and I'll see if I can match it up. If I can't, I don't have any other suggestions.
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