Many surviving coin-silver spoons date from the years soon after California became a state in 1850. Most are indistinguishable in design and construction from work done in the East, but because spoons were easy to make, it is plausible that some were actually made in San Francisco. A number of spoons probably dating from the 1850's are marked "EAVES & NYE Sac.[ramento] 134 J St." The firm was in business from about 1857 to about 1863. William T. Eaves was born in England and worked as a jeweler in Cincinnati, Lexington, Kentucky and St. Louis, from the late 1830's until 1849, when he arrived in California. The design of Eaves's spoons is very similar to that of spoons made by David (1819-1874) and Edward (1810-1865) Kinsey in Cincinnati.

An engraving printed on silk records the making of a solid gold goblet by Hamlet and William S. Jacks in San Francisco. According to the engraving, the goblet weighed thirty ounces, cost $1,500, and was presented to the San Francisco collector of customs in January 1851.4

The Jackses made the silver spoon and probably also the two gold spoons illustrated in Figure 2.5 Although they seem to have had valuable contacts on the East Coast, adequate financing, and good social connections in San Francisco, their firm ceased to exist by 1854.

Fig. 2. Spoons by and attributed to Hamlet (w. in California 1849-c. 1853) and William S. (c. 1809-1890) Jacks, San Francisco, 1849-c. 1853. Top: Spoon stamped "SAN FRANCISCO" on the back of the handle. Gold; length 5 3/8 inches. Private collection. Middle: Spoon stamped "SAN FRANCISCO CAL. BARRETT & SHERWOOD" and engraved "Carroll" on the back of the handle. Gold; length 7 3/8 inches. A similar gold teaspoon marked "MOFFAT" and dated 1849, but not attributed to the Jackses, is in the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut (see Kathryn C. Buhler and Graham Hood, American Silver, Garvan and Other Collections in the Yale University Art Gallery [New Haven, Connecticut, and London, 1970], vol. 2, No. 990). John L. Moffat and Company was in business between c. 1849 and 1853 as a private coiner in San Francisco. Private collection. Bottom: Spoon stamped "JACKS & WOODRUFF SAN FRANCISCO" on the back. Coin silver; length 8 1/2 inches. Argentum Antiques, Limited.

In 1854 John W. Tucker (1822-1876), one of San Francisco's earliest and most prominent jewelers, claimed to have made a fifty-piece gold service for Cornelius K. Garrison (1809-1885), a financier and mayor of San Francisco, at a cost of more than $50,000.6 Tucker was a flamboyant advertiser, a successful retail jeweler, and a real-estate speculator, and it is likely that he merely commissioned this service from a large East Coast manufacturer. He had been trained as a carpenter and there is no evidence that he employed any silversmiths, let alone ones capable of an undertaking of this scale or quality.

A large ewer in the collection of the Society of California Pioneers, in San Francisco, bears the marks "San Francisco ... .. Cal.," and "Geo. Ladd," but it was probably made elsewhere.7 Ladd was a New York City jeweler in the late 1840's who went to make his fortune in San Francisco in 1850. Ladd continued his jewelry business in San Francisco until the early 1860's, when he returned to New York, became a successful diamond merchant, and worked for Tiffany and Company.8 Other Eastern jewelers flocked to the California gold fields and then for a time set up business in San Francisco, marking but probably not making flatware.9 On the other hand the early San Francisco directories list one or two silversmiths who appear to have been employed by unidentified manufacturers and could have made any of this routine flatware.

William Lawler (1809-c. 1881) was the first Eastern silversmith to become established in San Francisco. Born in Ireland, he was a silversmith and watchmaker in St. Louis as early as 1840. By 1846 he was a silversmith in New Orleans, and by 1854 he had established himself as a silversmith in San Francisco. At the first industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics' Institute of San Francisco in 1857 he showed gold, silver, and enameled work, for which he won a diploma.10 Lawler was not especially successful, for his first business ended by 1860. He then worked as a boilermaker, a maker of gold pens, and by 1863, as a silversmith again. By late 1867 he was advertising himself as a "pioneer watchmaker, silversmith and jeweler" who made gold spoons and forks and silverware.11 According to the 1870 census he employed only his son Frederick (w. 1869-1876), used fifty-five hundred ounces of silver, and produced some $20,000 worth of silver and jewelry.12 His firm ceased to exist by 1879, and Lawler died about 1882. Examples of several different patterns of his flatware exist. Generally they are indistinguishable from the work of any other coin-silver spoonmaker.13

William Keyser Vanderslice (see Figs. 4 - 9 and 12) was the first silversmith in San Francisco of major importance. Born and trained in Philadelphia, he had his own business there for a short time before sailing late in 1857 for San Francisco with his family, his tools, and some $206 of borrowed capital.14 As was often true for other entrepreneurs, Vanderslice made a fortune by supplying luxury goods to the miners, bankers, stockbrokers, merchants, and real-estate speculators who were also making fortunes settling California and other sections of the West.

Vanderslice understood the value of exhibitions and advertising. In September 1858, four months after he arrived, he exhibited a pitcher at the second annual Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics' Institute. The judges reported that it was "very prettily designed" and deserved a diploma.15 One year later he won a prize for his exhibit at the California State Agricultural Fair. The awards committee reported:

We have carefully examined the articles made by W. K. Van Derslice, as his own manufacture, and we find the workmanship fully equal to that of imported articles. The large pitcher and two cups to match we consider most worthy of notice, from the novelty of design, and the beauty and excellence of its execution. The goblets, cups, knives, ladles, napkin rings, etc. we consider very good examples of work. We recommend for the above first premium.16

The premium of $20 was duly awarded. Vanderslice did not compete again at the agricultural fair, but by 1872 he began to receive large annual contracts to supply the silver trophies awarded at the fair (see Fig. 3).17 Early in 1860 Vanderslice advertised in the Victoria, British Columbia, directory that he was prepared to sell all kinds of solid silver articles to "The Trade" and that they no longer needed to "send to New York for articles in his line." He proposed to supply everything from "threaded or plain" flatware to tureens and waiters.

Starting with one employee when he arrived, Vanderslice had twenty workmen in 1870, in which year he used fifteen thousand ounces of silver. He had patented two flatware patterns by 1874,18 and made a wide variety of hollow ware in traditional as well as original designs19 (see Figs. 4 - 9). Vanderslice always considered himself to be primarily a silversmith, but by 1878 he also began to advertise as a retail jeweler. In the 1880's his silver production declined, and ultimately W. K. Vanderslice and Company became predominantly retail jewelers. Vanderslice became seriously ill in 1893; the firm was incorporated in 1897; and Vanderslice died in March 1899.20

The early hollow ware by Vanderslice is excellently made and usually of much heavier gauge silver than that of his competitors. His advertisements always emphasized that his "California manufacture" was "solid silver." Although he did employ silver platers, they seem to have confined themselves to electrogilding, repairs, and special orders. Probably the company's most famous plated object was the sledge hammer used in the ceremony that marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad.21

In common with many other silversmiths in the United States Vanderslice at times branded unmarked hollow ware made by others such as Gorham. Hence it is often difficult to say with certainty who made a particular object, for successful designs were widely copied.22

Among Vanderslice's less well known competitors was Friedrich R. Reichel (c. 1824-1867), a German immigrant who started a business as a jewelry manufacturer in San Francisco about 1857. Not until 1861, however, did he begin to advertise himself as a silversmith. He made a variety of flatware patterns which are often indistinguishable from those produced by Gorham or Vanderslice.23 His hollow ware is marked "F. R. Reichel San Francisco" or some variant of this. He died a relatively rich man in 1867.24 Less than a year later two of his employees, Gotthard Koehler and Charles A. Ritter, established a partnership that they advertised as "Successors to Frederick R. Reichel." Koehler was born in Saxony, Germany, about 1824 and seems to have been the craftsman of the firm. He may have arrived in San Francisco by 1854, but he was in Oregon in the early 1860's, and he finally settled in San Francisco by mid-1864. Ritter was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, about 1841 and was the bookkeeper, salesman, and business partner. He arrived in San Francisco about 1863.

Koehler and Ritter continued to produce most of Reichel's flatware patterns, added others of their own design, and sold hollow ware that was apparently of their own manufacture. According to the 1870 census they employed twenty workmen, used $12,000 worth of silver, and produced some $25,000 worth of silverware and $20,000 worth of jewelry. Sometimes their hollow ware imitates Gorham's (see Figs. 10 and 11); at other times it is very distinctive. The sugar box shown in Figure 13, for example, is unlike any other California or, indeed, American work. Koehler and Ritter's hollow ware is of moderate to heavy gauge silver and is very well made. Their flatware is usually marked with their initials, but is sometimes stamped with their full names, and is sometimes unmarked.

In August 1878, Koehler and Ritter exhibited at the Mechanics' fair a large and elaborate epergne which served both to advertise their skill and fulfill a commission by "the wife of one of our money kings."25 However, the firm never again exhibited at the Mechanics' fair and soon went into a decline that culminated in 1880 with the sale of their stock at auction to pay their major creditor.26 Koehler and Ritter ceased to exist as a partnership by early 1885. Ritter continued in business under his own name until he retired in 1890. Koehler worked for a short time as a jeweler for his son and for others. He died late in December 1894.27

William Schulz and Emil Fischer, also employees of Friedrich Reichel when he died, formed a partnership in 1868, which became Vanderslice's major competitor. Schulz was born in Prussia about 1828, arrived in San Francisco about 1863, and worked for Reichel as a jeweler and silversmith. Fischer was born in Saxony about 1830, worked in Ohio in the 1850's, and arrived in San Francisco about 1863. He worked for Reichel as a silversmith. In 1869 Schulz and Fischer's firm gained early renown for engraving the two gold spikes used in the ceremonial completion of the transcontinental railroad.28 In 1870 they employed six silversmiths, used seven thousand ounces of silver, and produced $22,000 worth of spoons, forks, and small hollow ware, according to the census. They had a well-equipped factory, did a large wholesale business, and steadily increased their production until by 1882 they had twenty-two workmen and were considered "the heaviest manufacturing house" in San Francisco.29 Retail jewelers' marks on their flatware, which exists in relatively large quantities, show that they had many retail outlets in San Francisco, elsewhere in California, and in Nevada and Oregon.

From about 1883 Schulz and Fischer began to advertise as importers as well as manufacturers. Fischer seems to have become inactive about 1888 and died in January 1890. Schulz then moved to another address in San Francisco and began to emphasize his retail business as much as his manufacturing. When Schulz died about 1900 the firm ceased to exist.

Schulz and Fischer's silver, although frequently unmarked, can be distinguished from the work of Eastern manufacturers both in design and construction. They did not patent any flatware designs, but several of their patterns are quite distinctive.30 Individual pieces may be marked "SCHULZ & FISCHER," "S.&F" "SF CAL.," or only "COIN" or "STERLING," with a distinctive broken "S" (see Fig. 15). Their hollow ware is usually marked with a stamp representing the seal of California (see Fig. 15). They appear to have catered to a less well-to-do clientele than Vanderslice or Koehler and Ritter, for their work is usually made of thinner gauge silver. At the same time their skillful use of ribbing, fluting, and other design and construction techniques adds considerable strength to objects that would otherwise be too flimsy to use. The mat or brushed surface characteristic of their hollow ware (see Fig, 16) reduced the labor necessary for final polishing. in common with most other American silversmiths they priced their work by the ounce rather than by the object, which may have helped them undercut competitors' prices. However, they were also quite capable of producing as heavy and complex work as the best of their competition (see Fig. 17).

Fig. 16. Tea service and spoon holder made by Schulz and Fischer, c. 1885. All the pieces bear a mark on the bottom similar to that shown in Fig. 15. The pieces that compose the tea set are inscribed "M/ 1860 July 24th 1885" on the front. Silver; height of teapot, 7 3/8 inches. The spoon holder is a later addition to the set, implying that this was a standard design with the firm. The spoons are Schulz and Fischer's Medallion pattern. Private collection.

Fig. 17. Tea and coffee service made by Schulz and Fischer, c. 1885. Silver; height of coffeepot, 10 1/2 inches. All pieces except the cream pitcher are monogrammed "MSB" on the front, for Mary Stanton Barron (b. 1865) of San Francisco. The design uses elements familiar in East Coast work but the total effect is unique to Schulz and Fischer's production. This is one of the most imposing services made in California during the period. Argentum Antiques.

Some of the hollow ware made by Schulz and Fischer is engraved with inscriptions in German, as are, much more rarely, pieces by Koehler and Ritter. In contrast, almost none of Vanderslice's silver has German inscriptions.

One of the most interesting pieces of Schulz and Fischer's hollow ware is the large ecclesiastical stoup shown in Figure 18. Entirely outside the Anglo-American stylistic tradition, it is a late baroque form that would have been familiar to the many recent Catholic immigrants to California. The thin sheet stock from which it is made reduced the cost of the metal and the work needed to develop the rather complex shape. The foot and upper section were spun, while the center section was formed from seamed flat stock. The embossed decoration added elegance as well as strength to compensate for the thin metal. The spun liner makes the stoup watertight even today, despite the cracks that have developed along some of the embossed lines.

Throughout the 1880's Schulz and Fischer continued to invest money in dies so as to introduce a new flatware pattern almost every year.31 At the same time they produced some of the most innovative designs in San Francisco hollow ware. Responding to the taste for combinations of metals in the Oriental style, they made silver objects with elaborately shaped, three-dimensional, applied copper fruit and flowers (see color plate at top of page). Their work in this style is as skillfully designed and made as Gorham's. Late in the firm's existence Schulz and Fischer produced a flatware pattern called Violet with a deeply acid-etched, floral design similar to Gorham's Clematis.

Schulz and Fischer seem to have been limited more by a dearth of money and business experience than by a lack of imagination in design or skill in manufacturing. Shortly after they began business they took as a partner Christopher (or Christoph) Ferdinand Mohrig, a jeweler who invested money but continued his own business as a maker of gold chains. In 1883 Schulz and Fischer took in as another financial partner Samuel McCartney, a wholesale liquor dealer before, during, and after his partnership with Schulz and Fischer.32 Fischer's death in 1890 and the resulting need to liquidate the assets of the partnership to settle his estate left Schulz with too little capital to continue an otherwise innovative and successful business.

Competition from the East was also beginning to become troublesome. For many years San Francisco silversmiths had the advantage of a vast local supply of bullion and relatively low transportation costs by sea or rail to their wholesale and retail customers on the Pacific coast. Freight rates on the transcontinental railroad were sufficiently high to reduce any other competitive advantages of the large Eastern firms. By the late 1870's, however, mass-produced, silverplated wares were being aggressively merchandised everywhere in direct competition with solid silver. Reed and Barton of Taunton, Massachusetts, for example, obtained the commission to make the silverplated ware for the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1875, and by 1879 the firm had a representative in San Francisco.33 Gorham established a branch office and salesroom in San Francisco by early 1879. Moreover, freight rates dropped from $6.50 per hundredweight in 1870 to $2.50 in late 1876, and to $1.50 on January 1, 1885.34 The telegraph and railroads were fast ending California's isolation and helping to create a national consciousness as well as a national taste; local patriotism was becoming the only reason to patronize California manufacturers.

San Francisco's most successful jeweler and silversmith in the 1880's was George C. Shreve. Shreve was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and worked for a time in Saco, Maine, with his half-brother Benjamin (1813-1896). Later George and his brother, Samuel S. (1804-c. 1857), shipped as sailors and then worked with wholesale jewelers in New York City until they came to San Francisco in 1852, where they began a retail jewelry business.35 There is no clear evidence that either of the brothers or their firm made silverware before the 1880's. They employed no silversmiths, 36 and objects with their marks that date from before the 1880's appear to be the products of Eastern manufacturers, of Vanderslice, or of Schulz and Fischer. By 1882, however, George Shreve was advertising that he had a factory with some seventy workers, presumably mostly jewelers. From about 1884 Shreve began to employ silversmiths who had worked for Koehler and Ritter, by 1888 silversmiths who had worked for Schulz and Fischer, and by 1891 silversmiths who had worked for Vanderslice. (In 1908 Shreve absorbed Vanderslice's firm.) From as early as about 1888 Shreve seems to have been producing large-scale hollow ware on commission (see Figs. 19, 20).

Fig. 19. Bowl made by George C. Shreve (1829 -1893) and Company, San Francisco, c. 1888. The mark stamped on the bottom is similar to the one shown in Fig. 20a; engraved on the front is "Presented to/Capt. J. C. Hunter./of the Ship George W. Elder./by his passengers on the voyage to Alaska./between the dates below, as a/memento of the trip and as a/ testimonial of their regard./July 17-Aug. 3, 1888." Silver; diameter 10 3/8 inches. This is a very early example of presentation silver made by Shreve. It is reminiscent of work by Schulz and Fischer. Private collection.

Figs.20, 20a. Covered tureen made by George C. Shreve and Company, c. 1888 -1890, and mark on the bottom of the tureen. Silver; height 9 inches. The tureen is an early example of Shreve's use of hand-hammered surfaces and decoration in the Japanese style. The style alone would indicate a date about ten years earlier, but there is no evidence that Shreve actually made silver until about 1883. The company used the mark shown here between 1883 and 1909. After January 1894 it used a punch reading "SHREVE & CO." and from 1909 it used a depiction of a bell rather than a bee. The bell appears to have been discontinued after 1922. Whereabouts unknown; photograph by courtesy of Christie's.

In addition to hiring workmen from other San Francisco silversmiths, Shreve also acquired or copied tools and dies from Schulz and Fischer and Vanderslice.37 During the 1880's and 1890's Shreve seems to have concentrated on making "Trophies, Emblems, Prizes, Medals, Class Pins, and novelties in gold and silver," as he advertised in the San Francisco directories for 1890, 1891, and 1892. The firm seems to have had all the most prestigious commissions, including the silver service for Admiral George Dewey's (1837-1917) flagship Olympia, a $5,000 gold cup awarded at the Midwinter Fair in 1897, and a loving cup and a silver statue entitled A Bear Fight presented to President Theodore Roosevelt during his visit to San Francisco in 1903.38 In addition to spectacular presentation silver, Shreve also began to experiment with randomly hand-hammered surfaces used in combination with cutout designs.39 An important side effect was the fact that various silversmiths who had received their training in Shreve's factory began to return to the old craft traditions and execute commissions for wealthy patrons who once again sought silver made in San Francisco as a testimony to their taste, local patriotism, wealth, and status.

EDGAR W. MORSE is an Associate Professor of History, Emeritus at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California, and is now a part owner of Argentum Antiques, Limited, in San Francisco.

All students of California silver owe a debt of gratitude to Elliot Evans. His articles in Silver Magazine, Western Collector, and Spinning Wheel are basic references. I could not have made this study without the kindness of the late James de T. Abajian who made his research and indexes available to me. My partner, Michael Weller, in Argenturn Antiques, Limited, has contributed in more ways than I can hope to enumerate.

1 Jennifer Faulds Goldsborough et al., Silver in Maryland (Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 1983) and a shorter version of its introduction in ANTIQUES for January 1984, pp. 258 -267. See also, for St. Louis silver, ANTIQUES for December 1981, pp. 1402 -1409; and for New Orleans silver, August 1982, pp. 293 -303.

2 This may be gleaned from the products of industry census for 1870, for which the original manuscripts are in the California State Library in Sacramento. This section of the census for 1850 and 1860 is fragmentary while for 1870 and 1880 it contains much useful but chaotically arranged and incomplete information.

3 A large, early nineteenth-century copper baptismal bowl at Mission Santa Ines (in Santa Ynez, north of Santa Barbara) was probably made locally, and the Smith who raised the bowl had the ability to raise sheet silver as well (Kurt Baer, The Treasures of Mission Santa Ines [Fresno, California, 1956), pp. 277 - 278). The 1852 California census lists many silversmiths in Monterey and elsewhere in California who were born in "Mexico," but whose work and later careers are unknown. A silver-mounted wooden stirrup made in California in the nineteenth century is illustrated and discussed in Erwin 0. Christensen, The Index of American Design (New York, 1950), pp. 30-31. A gold pin made by Celestino Trujillo (c. 1825 -after 1880) in Monterey is illustrated in ibid., p. 29. For more on early California silver and metalwork see ANTIQUES for October 1937, pp. 182 -183; and November 1953, pp. 374 375.

4 A copy of the engraving is MS 52469 in vault B52 of the California Historical Society in San Francisco. Hamlet Jacks sailed for California in April 1849 from New York, where William S. Jacks had been a jeweler as early as 1833. Unless otherwise credited, biographical information cited in this article is from standard published sources, San Francisco and other city directories, or the California Great Registers of voters. The indexes of these Registers, prepared by the late James de T. Abajian, are in the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley.

5 See Edgar W. Morse, The "Carroll" San Francisco Gold Rush Spoon (San Francisco, 1977).

6 See Peter Bohan, American Gold (New Haven, Connecticut, 1963), p. 8. For more about Tucker see 0. T. Shuck, Sketches of Leading and Representative Men of San Francisco (San Francisco, 1875), pp. 709 -711; and Charles H. Carpenter Jr., Gorham Silver, 1831-1981 (New York, 1982), pp. 61- 62.

7 A ewer with identical repousse' and flat chasing was retailed by James E. Caldwell and Company (founded 1848) of Philadelphia. The only variations are the handle and, on the Caldwell ewer, an applied flared element where the foot joins the body. The Caldwell ewer is illustrated in the catalogue of sale no. 4076, Sotheby's, New York City, February I - 4, 1978, Lot 578.

8 See Paul von Khrum, Silversmiths of New York City 1684 -1850 (New York, 1978), p. 77; and Ladd's obituaries in the San Francisco Call, July 28, 1899, and the Jewelers' Circular and Horological Review, vol. 39 (August 2, 1899), p. 12.

9 See Report of the First Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics' Institute of San Francisco (San Francisco, 1857), p. 91.

10 Ibid.

11 San Francisco Chronicle, December 19, 1867.

12 Manuscript schedules for the products of industry census for 1870.

13 One pattern is a rather unusual, almost Continental, fiddle style made of quite heavy gauge silver. I know of only one example of Lawler's hollow ware, a small and very ordinary mug in the Oakland Museum in Oakland, California.

14 The Bay of San Francisco (Chicago, 1892), vol. 2, pp. 666 - 667; and obituary of his son, Milton T. Vanderslice, San Francisco Chronicle, April 20, 1954.

15 Report of the Second Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics' Institute of San Francisco (San Francisco, 1858), pp. 19, 29, 88.

16 Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society (Sacramento, California, 1859), p. 247.

17 Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society (Sacramento, 1873), pp. 12, 14, 23. The last payments to W. K. Vanderslice and Company appear to have been in 1901 (see Transactions of the California Stale Agricultural Society [Sacramento, 1901 ], p. 16).

18 Gargoyle received design patent no. 3,402 on March 2, 1869; Comstock received design patent no. 7,776 on September 22, 1874.

19 See Edgar W. Morse, San Francisco Victorian Flatware Patterns: Vanderslice, Koehler and Ritter, E. R. Reichel, and others (San Francisco, 1977).

20 His obituary was published in the San Francisco Call on March 13, 1899.

21 See J. N. Bowman, "Driving the Last Spike at Promontory," California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 36 (1957), p. 103. 1 do not know of any silverplated object that bears Vanderslice's mark. A silver soup tureen made by Vanderslice in the 1870's and now in a private collection has an unmarked Silver-plated liner, but that may be a later replacement.

22 Identical milled moldings and cast ornaments often appear on wares by different makers who were definitely not merely retailers. The body and cast finial of the Vanderslice tureen mentioned in n. 21 are very similar to those of a Gorham tureen illustrated in the catalogue of Sotheby's sale no. 4076, Lot 616. However, the milled Greek-key molding is unlike Gorham's but is very similar or identical to one used by Joseph T. Bailey and Company (1846 -1878) of Philadelphia (illustrated in the catalogue of sale no. 4529Y, Sotheby's, New York City, January 28 -31, 1981, Lot 269). Handles similar to those on a water pitcher marked by Friedrich R. Reichel and on the Vanderslice water pitcher shown in Fig. 5 are also found on pieces illustrated in the catalogue of sale no. 4478Y, Sotheby's, New York City, November 19 -22, 1980, Lot 96, and the catalogue of sale no. 4785Y, Sotheby's, New York City, January 27 -30, 1982, Lot 170.

23 See Morse, San Francisco Victorian Flatware Patterns.

24 San Francisco Municipal Reports (San Francisco, 1867 -1868), p. 381. His estate had a net value of about $21,000.

25 San Francisco Bulletin, August 24, 1878. 1 have found no other record of this piece.

26 A leaflet announcing the auction on November 30, 1880, states that John Truman Bonestell was to be their successor. Bonestell was a partner in the Levison Brothers' California Jewelry Company, probably the major San Francisco manufacturing jeweler at that time. The leaflet is in my collection.

27 Jewelers' Circular and Horological Review, vol. 29 (January 16,1895), p. 35.

28 See Bowman, "Driving the Last Spike." One of the spikes (in the Stanford University Museum and Art Gallery, Stanford, California) is illustrated in ANTIQUES for April 1984, p. 881, Fig. 2. The whereabouts of the other spike is unknown.

29 John S. Hittell, The Commerce and Industries of the Pacific Coast (San Francisco, 1882), pp. 696, 698.

30 An undated leaflet of about 1878 in the Bancroft Library illustrates their flatware patterns and lists the hollow ware they made. See also Edgar W. Morse, Schulz and Fischer: San Francisco Silversmiths (San Francisco, 1977).

31 This is suggested in their invoices to John G. Fox (d. 1899), a dealer in newspapers, magazines, and luxury goods in Carson City, Nevada (John G. Fox papers, Nevada Historical Society, Reno, Nevada).

32 Some of the firm's late flatware patterns are marked only "Schulz & McCartney" although Fischer continued to appear as a partner in the firm in his own listings in the San Francisco directories until 1888.

33 George Sweet Gibb, The Whitesmiths of Taunton, A History of Reed and Barton, 1824 -1943, 2nd ed. (New York, 1960) pp. 230 -231.

34 United States Interstate Commerce Commission, Railways in the United States in 1902 (Washington, D.C., 1903), Part 2, p. 154.

35 The obituary of George C. Shreve appeared in the Jeweler's Circular and Horological Review, vol. 27 (October 25, 1893), p. 13; that of Benjamin Shreve in the Jewelers' Circular and Horological Review, vol. 33 (August 26, 1896), p. 15. Benjamin Shreve was the Shreve of Shreve, Crump and Low Company of Boston.

36 The 1860 products of industry census for San Francisco lists no silversmiths or jewelers for any firm. The corresponding manuscript schedules for 1870 show that Shreve employed two watch and clock repairers, but no jewelers or silversmiths. The 1880 schedules show he employed three watch and clock repairers, but still no jewelers or silversmiths.

37 Uncharacteristically heavy pieces of flatware in the Schulz and Fischer Medallion pattern exist that bear only the mark "GEO C. SHREVE & CO.," which suggests that Shreve made them. Pieces of Vanderslice's Celtic pattern exist with the same Shreve mark as well as the later "SHREVE & CO." mark.

38 See Jeweler's Circular and Horological Review, vol. 34 (April 28,1897), p. 24; vol. 38 (July 26, 1899), pp. 1, 7; vol. 46 (May 27, 1903), p. 64, and (June 17, 1903), p. 58.

39 These experiments culminated in the two flatware patterns called Fourteenth Century issued by the company, the first about 1911 and the second about a year later. For more about these patterns, see Elliot Evans,"Shreve and Company of San Francisco Flatware," Spinning Wheel, vol. 34 (September 1978), pp. 31-32.