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Gorham Manufacturing Company

Smelling salt bottle

Maker

Gorham Manufacturing Company (American, 1831-present)

Title

Smelling salt bottle

Year

1898

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

glass, gilding, copper, Amethyst, silver

Geography

Place Made: Providence; Place Made: Rhode Island

Dimensions

Height: 8.3 cm (3 1/4 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Elizabeth T. and Dorothy N. Casey Fund

Object Number

1999.13

Type

Exhibition History

Recent Acquisitions
Inclusive and Diverse
Feb 18, 2000 – Apr 16, 2000

Label copy

Since receiving the Gorham Collection of more than 1,000 pieces of silver as a gift from Textron Inc. in 1991, the Museum is in a position to present a nearly complete range of the firm's production since its founding in 1831. This small bottle may be unique, a sample of an unusual plating techniqe called "wallpaper amalgam" that was never put into production. It combines irregular patches of copper and two gilding processes on silver. Similar decoration may be found on smaller objects, such as match safes, but is not known on anything this large.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Gorham Manufacturing Company (American, 1831-present)
Smelling salt bottle, 1898
Silver, copper, gilding, amethysts
Height: 8.3 cm (3 1/4 inches)
Elizabeth T. and Dorothy N. Casey Fund 1999.13

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