Marks Antiques
Mayfair, London
A RARE PAIR OF AMERICAN CAIRO PATTERN SILVER AND MIXED METAL VASES
GORHAM MANUFACTURING CO
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, 1879
The otherwise plain fluted gourd-shaped bodies rising to copper bands applied in silver with exotic birds and flowers, the slender tapering silver necks variously decorated, one with inlaid copper and brass speckles, the other with stippled ground, inlaid copper speckles and an applied twisted silver and copper wire rope
Height 6 1 / 2 in, 16.5 cm, the undersides of both struck with Gorham's marks and 'STERLING / & OTHER METALS / B 13 / L', the second further struck with a small heart-shaped mark
Gorham Manufacturing Co
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The Cairo pattern, originally Curio, was introduced by Gorham in 1879 and is usually associated with the firm's flatware. Indeed, these vases and a table bell are the only recorded items of hollowware to be decorated in this speckled style, the manufacture of which was both difficult and expensive. Not surprisingly the Cairo pattern disappeared from Gorham's catalogue only a year after its introduction.