?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(ADAMS, JOHN.) Silver spoon said to have belonged to Adams. 8 inches in length, with early "I:A" monogram on verso, later "CMF" monogram on recto, and 4 hallmarks. Np, nd
According to an 1893 letter and 1970 note which accompany the collection, this spoon was acquired by John Adams while serving as the first minister to Great Britain from 1785 to 1788. It was sold to Jeremiah Fitch (1778-1840) in Quincy, MA on September 27, 1826, and in the recollection of his granddaughter, "he was assured by the family that it was bought while Mr. A was minister to England." It was inherited by Fitch's daughter Caroline Matilda Fitch (1808-1893), who added her own monogram "CMF." Shortly after her death, it was given by her niece Mary F. Jenks (1846-1921) to a cousin, Grenville Howland Norcross (1854-1937): "We feel that you will value it, because it was Aunt Caroline's and she valued it, and because it once belonged to President John Adams." Norcross gave it to his cousin Mabel Carleton Gage (1868-1952), who left it to her niece Mary Hovey Gage Rice (1901-1977) of Worcester, MA (per 1970 note), a family member of the consignor. We have not yet successfully traced the hallmarks on the spoon. One reads "W" in an oval; next is "XXX" in a vertical column; third is an indecipherable figure; and finally "HH." with--another silver spoon, 6 inches in length, bearing the "AD" maker's mark of Amos Doolittle. Provenance: Early American auction, 29 June 2013, lot 127.
