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IImage ©2005 Nick T. Spark
Spoons West!tm
Fred Harvey, the Navajo
and the Collectible Spoons of the West 1890-1941
In 2004 I was asked to create photographs
for a book about collectible, sterling silver spoons made between the years
1890-1941. Rather than go down the traditional, boring road -- shooting
photos of metal spoons on black velvet -- I decided to make a series of
photo illustrations appropriate for a coffee-table type book.
The results are a series of photographs
which feature not just collectible spoons, but related artifacts or environments.
Some photos contain the original photo postcards which inspired the silver
manufacturers of the day; others contain jewelry and ephemera from the
West of days gone by.
Special thanks to Wayne Bednersh,
Carol Hyland, Andrew Kwiat, Lee and Trudy Geer, Lynn Randall and other
collectors who generously supplied spoons for this project.
Due to some problems with the publisher,
the release date of the book is now uncertain. Know anyone who wants to
publish a neat book? Contact me.
Want to be contacted when the book
is published? Contact me by sending an email to: eyeballoverload*aol.com
(substitute an '@' in place of the '*' when writing).
The World's Columbian Exposition
of 1893 is remembered as the high water mark of the "spoon craze".
Hundreds of designs were produced to commemorate the event including
this enameled piece, which was probably made in Europe. The craze must
have made an impression on Fred Harvey, whose company had an exhibit at
the fair. Spoons would eventually be sold throughout his empire. ©2005
Nick T. Spark.
These double- sided figural spoons show a terrific
level of talent and skill on the part of the artisan who designed them.
The upper piece, made by the National Silver Co., depicts an Indian with
a spear and tomahawk, and his squaw and papoose adorn the reverse along
with a monogram. The spoon on the lower right features a detailed image
of the Alvarado Hotel, and was likely purchased there in the early 1900s.
More double-sided spoons. Watson's "On the Range" and "Out
West" have gunfighters,their Colts stillsmoking, on the frontside.
While"Out West" has a pastoral scene on the back, the rear of
the "Range" spoon shows outlaws shooting up a defenseless Silvertown.
©2005 Nick T. Spark
The inspiration for the figural handles seen
in early Navajo spoons was likely U.S. coinage, which often featured native
profiles. ©2005.
The towering Santa Fe Railroad
bridge at Diablo Canyon was beautifully rendered by a designer at Mechanics
Silver. The train-on-the-handle design also appears on several other spoons
from this era. Another of the great engineering feats of the early 20th
Century, the five-mile-long Gunnison irrigation tunnel changed Colorado
forever when it opened in 1909. ©2005.
C.E. Rose, an enterprising jeweler based in Ouray,
Colorado claimed to have produced over 400 different spoons featuring views
of the Rocky Mountains. This spoon, "the only Colorado souvenir spoon
possessing any special merit" featured a view of Rose's hometown, with
Chief Ouray, mountain sheep and a burro on the handle. ©2005 Nick T.
Spark
Geronimo, the one-time supreme
enemy of the United States, finally laid down his arms in 1886. He soon
became a celebrity, and even rode in Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade
in 1905. The hand-engraved portrait on this spoon is striking, and one
of the best examples of its kind. ©2005 Nick T. Spark
Likely dating from about 1900, these Navajo profile
spoons are some of the most intriguing and desirable to collectors. While
full of character and charm, cartoon-like figures like these apparently
stopped being made around 1910, either because the public or the Navajo
smiths themselves rejected this type of design. ©2005 Nick T. Spark
Abundant in shapes, sizes and types,
Navajo utensils seem perfectly at home in the desert. ©2005 Nick T.
Spark
Legal notice: All images and
other content on this web page are Copyright ©2002-2006 by Nick T.
Spark, and may not be used, reproduced, altered, posted, or otherwise distributed
without express permission. Some trademarks, logos and other content featured
in images may be subject to ownership by third parties. Their inclusion
does not necessarily reflect an endorsement or affiliation by these groups.
"Spoons West" is a trademark of Nick T. Spark and the title of
his book on the spoons of the West.