Tiki Central / Collecting Tiki / Trader Vic's Spoon?
Post #693055 by Grand Kahu on Mon, Sep 9, 2013 9:58 PM
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GK
Grand Kahu
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Mon, Sep 9, 2013 9:58 PM
Hi Trav, I have serious doubts about the use of sterling at the buffet, as even the classy joints like the Four Seasons, Waldorf-Astoria, Delmonico's and the like used silverplate for both their serving pieces and table flatware. Several silver companies had special divisions devoted to producing heavily-plated silverware just for the restaurant and travel industries. Both International Silver and Oneida had divisions which produced silverplated wares for TV's, as a serving piece by the former sold on eBay earlier this year and this set of flatware is on auction now: Neither are in any way tiki or custom; as in about 99 in 100 cases; the silverplated wares were just stock and often boring designs imprinted with the restaurant name. Custom silverplate designs were extremely rare and included only a few restaurants like the Four Seasons, which has a pretty illustrious design history in its own right. Custom solid silver? I can't think of a single restaurant in the last half century-plus that had custom-designed sterling serving flatware or serving pieces. Since no other solid silver flatware of this design seem to have surfaced, it must have been a very limited production, hence my thought it was for a VIP dining room or a more pricey souvenir of a limited run. The fact there is no manufacturer's mark leads me to believe a smaller silver studio produced it rather than one of the bigger aforementioned firms. It's a definite mystery! If a bigger serving spoon or fork were to surface with this design, that would at least challenge the souvenir idea. Ah, well, maybe something will pop up. Now I'm dreaming of finding a sterling silver punch bowl with tiki eyes studded with emeralds... One can dream... GK |