I have inherited a whole “chest” of silver. I am wondering about the marks. I photographed everything I inherited. \I hope someone can help me. I am interested in the maker, background, and approximate value would be nice too. I know that about 10-20 years ago the whole silver chest was appraised at about 10,000 dollars. Thank you in advance for any help.
Hi there Kittyno and thanks for joining us. Its Gorham sterling. I’ll look up the pattern shortly, have to run some errands first.
Regards,
Uncle Vic
I don’t see that Gorham pattern in my quick reference books, although it is similar to the Fairfax pattern. You can look through the Gorham patterns on www.replacements.com and perhaps luck across it.
As to value, it will depend on how many place settings you have. The estimate of $10,000 seems rather high to me. As to date, obviously after the 1913 patent date.
Regards,
Uncle Vic
I am not sure if it is too late to comment on this gorham piece but the gorham date codes can be found at …
925-1000.com/Gorham_Date_Code.html
Looks like 1980s to me
Hi there Gimme 1and thanks for joining in. The Gorham date codes were only used on certain (mostly high end) holloware and never on flatware.
Regards,
Uncle Vic
Vic,
thanks so much for your help with all this. I forgot to mention that, included with the appraisal is a huge “chest” of sorts. it’s about 3 1/2 feet high, has a lock, and two sliding drawers with felt in them. It’s like a really high table with skinny legs. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s in perfect condition and the silver came in it. Just FYI 
Let’s just call it a silver chest. They were very popular in the early 20th century. It will certainly add some value to your set, but again, the value will depend a lot of how many place settings you have.
For example, my wife saw a full page ad in a magazine for a 450+ pc. set of Tiffany sterling flatware in a silver chest…very nice stuff…no price in the ad, so I looked up the website (M.S. Rau in New Orleans, just down the road from us) and they are asking $335,000…www.rauantiques.com
Your Gorham flatware is much more common and a search of the completed items on ebay will give you a good idea of “real world” value. Also remember that the price of “raw” silver has dropped from near $20 a troy oz. to just under $14 in the last couple of months, and this 30% drop in silver prices will certainly affect the market value of most all sterling items.
Regards,
Uncle Vic
This pattern is Gorham’s Etruscan. It was first designed/produced in 1913, and the marks on your set suggest that these are some of the earliest produced. This is one pattern that is still in production today.
As to value, obviously this depends upon the size of the set. How many pieces do you have? Place settings? For 12 place settings, you are probably looking in the $2500 range, perhaps more of you have an abundance of serving pieces. Silver prices have really come down for standard patterns in the last 10-15 years or so - due primarily to eBay I suspect, creating increased availability of older pieces.
I hope you are not disappointed by that, Etruscan is a beautiful, classic pattern - I hope you enjoy using it and don’t just keep it locked away!!