Gorham 'Athenic' Antique Sterling Silver and Cut Glass Vase, Providence, RI, 1902

Gorham's 'Athenic' silver features exceptional art nouveau design.  This 'sample' vase has bold foliate decorated silver mounted on a beautifully cut glass vase with organic whiplash floral and foliate designs. 

'Samples' are Gorham's internal special orders, when management or the design department created pieces that represented Gorham at the their artistic best.  These are unique or limited production items and it appears that this vase, coded 'CTI', was made along with the 'CTJ' vase - the only two of its design.

Gorham's record indicate the vase was hand chased by William MacMillan for 22.5 hours.  It had a total net (wholesale) price of $80.00 - quite a bit back in 1902.  (William MacMillan - a skilled artisan - only made $30.00 working 60 hours a week.)

The vase is marked with Gorham's trademark, 'STERLING', the 'CTI' code and the date mark for 1902.  It measures just over 12 inches high and is in very good/ excellent antique condition with a couple minor scratches in the glass and only very light wear to the highlights although the original gilding has worn off.