Marks Antiques
Mayfair, London
A RARE AMERICAN CAIRO PATTERN SILVER AND MIXED METAL TABLE BELL
GORHAM MANUFACTURING CO
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, 1879
The domed bell engraved with the initial C on one side and on the other decorated with inlaid brass and copper speckles below a handle cast in copper as an ivy spray bearing silver leaves, compete with chained silver pear-shaped clapper
Height 4 1 / 2 in, 10.8 cm, the underside of the rim struck with Gorham's marks and 'STERLING & OTHER METALS B6 L'
Gorham Manufacuring 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, this bell and a pair of vases are the only recorded items of hollowware to be decorated in this speckled style, the manufacture of which was both difficult and expensive. For a discussion of Cairo pattern, which disappeared from Gorham's catalogue only a year after its introduction, see William P. Hood Jr. et al, 'That Curious Cairo Pattern,' Silver Magazine, September/October, 2002, pp. 26-31.