Roger's & Bros - Gothic Design

I am a patent attorney. A major historic patent case was Gorham v. White, which involved two silver flatware companies. I would like to obtain a spoon of each companies flatware that was at issue in the case and have them framed together and put in my office. Gorham’s design was called Cottage. White’s, which I believe was making flatware under the company Rogers & Brothers, was called Gothic.

You can see drawings of each party’s flatware in an old SSF post here:
Gorham Co. v. White – “The Cottage infringment”

I have been able to track down Gorham’s Cottage design, but not White’s (Rogers & Brothers) Gothic design.

I would greatly appreciate any help you could provide in finding a piece of White’s Gothic flatware!

Thanks!

Hi there Delz and thanks for joining us. Rogers & Brothers “Gothic” silverplate flatware pattern is indeed very similar to Gorham’s Cottage sterling one. Go to www.replacements.com click on “silver”, then “R” for Rogers & Brother, then go to the set of pages that include Gothic and you will find that they list several items, including a teaspoon, but do not currently have one in stock. The Replacements, Ltd. site has excellent photos of each item. You may also pull up Gorham’s Cottage pattern there to compare.

Try contacting Replacements and feel them out for availability. Also check www.silverqueen.com , the As You Like It Silver Shop in New Orleans and otherspecialty replacement silver outlets and you may find the Gothic spoon. Also try eBay and its current and especially its “completed items” to see if any are for sale.

My references show the White Silver Co. of Taunton, Mass. as a maker of silverplated flatware and novelty items in business from 1900 until 1930. It appears to market its goods under the name of other makers such as Rogers & Brothers.

Good Luck!

Uncle Vic

P.S. - I’m a reitried lawyer (banking) and worked for 40+ years with patent attorneys and they all have doo-dads on their walls such as you are putting together. Must be the Kool-Aid y’all drink?

Thanks Vic.

If you happen to think of any other places that might have an actual, non-replacement piece for sale please let me know!

The places I mentioned would have original stuff. They specialize in buying and selling odd pieces of old silver.

I’ll put the Gothic spoon on my “look out for” list and ask our readers to do the same.

Regards,

Uncle Vic