Silver maker
Gorham Manufacturing Company marks
Jabez Gorham and Henry L.
- Active
- 1831–present (as a brand)
- Based in
- Providence, Rhode Island, United States
- Marks listed
- 11
- Typical pieces
- flatware, holloware, tea services, trophies
The marks, by date
Each mark’s wording is written out as a transcription: the words and line breaks, not a picture of the mark. Where a source describes a mark instead of quoting it, the description is shown in italics.
Firm name mark of the first partnership.
Script name mark of the pre-charter firm.
The lion, anchor and G used with the word COIN on coin-silver pieces of the Gorham & Co. period.
Standard sterling trademark: a walking lion, an anchor and a Gothic G, each in its own small cartouche, usually followed by STERLING. The cartouche outlines changed over time (see dating tips).
Year letters: A = 1868 through Q = 1884.
A different small pictorial symbol was used for each year.
The number of sides of the polygon gives the decade and the numeral gives the year (e.g. a 7 inside a square = 1947).
Anchor-over-name mark 925-1000 lists for base-metal and silverplated wares, not sterling.
Found on modernist pieces designed by the Danish silversmith Erik Magnussen.
History
Webster started the business in Providence in 1831, and its early output was mostly coin-silver spoons plus small goods such as thimbles and combs. Jabez's son John took over in 1847, mechanized production and widened the range; the state chartered the Gorham Manufacturing Company in 1865 and the works moved to Adelaide Avenue in 1890. Gorham grew into one of the largest American makers of sterling and silverplate before a long run of owners that began with Textron in 1967.
Dating clues
- Gorham used year letters from 1868 (A) to 1884 (Q), then a different year symbol each year from 1885 to 1933.
- Year marking stopped in 1933 and resumed in 1941 on mid- to high-priced holloware, using a numeral inside a polygon: square = 1940s, five sides = 1950s, six = 1960s, seven = 1970s, eight = 1980s (925-1000 chart).
- 925-1000 notes the date codes appear on holloware and some smaller items but were not used on flatware, so a Gorham spoon or fork normally has no year mark.
- 925-1000's chart dates the shapes around the lion-anchor-G: plain marks 1852–1865, c.1855–1860 and last-quarter-19th-century variants, c.1863–1890s in square cartouches, and chamfered (clipped-corner) cartouches in the 20th century.
- The same date-mark system was also used on Gorham silverplate (silvercollection.it).
Look-alikes and reproductions
- Gorham's walking lion resembles the British lion passant, but it is paired with an anchor and a G rather than a British town mark and date letter; 925-1000 notes genuine British hallmarks come as a full set.
Other names on the marks
Gorham & Webster; J. Gorham & Son; Gorham & Thurber; Gorham & Co.; Gorham Mfg. Co.; Gorham Corporation
Where sources disagree: silvercollection.it describes early Gorham lions as facing left c.1848–1865 and facing right from 1853; 925-1000 shows several overlapping early variants. We give 925-1000's ranges and treat the early outline variants as approximate.
Sources
- Gorham Marks & Date Codes – 925-1000.com (Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks)
- American Silver Marks G (Go–Gr) – 925-1000.com (Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks)
- Gorham silver: year's marks – date letters and symbols – silvercollection.it
- Gorham Manufacturing: history and marks – silvercollection.it
- Gorham Silver: Prices, Marks and History – Invaluable
- Gorham Manufacturing Company – Wikipedia
Marks help identify a maker and a date range, but they can’t prove a piece is genuine. Reproductions and later reissues can carry old marks. This entry isn’t an appraisal.