Wood & Hughes 'Medallion' Antique Coin Silver Goblets – pair, New York City, c. 1860's

Wood & Hughes from New York made beautiful silver. These goblets are stunning with wonderful repousse flowers and engraving surrounding large oval medallions. This particular portrait medallion features the profile of a helmeted warrior on a stippled background. A winged dragon clutches the top of the helmet.

These wonderful goblets are further embellished with rows of beading along the outer edge of the rim and around the base of the pedestal foot. The stems of the goblets have three attached balls at the midsection.

These medallions are portraits of Achilles derived from Knight's Gems or Device Book, Second Edition, Plate 71 (London: J. Williams, undated) circa 1830 - see below for a digital image of the original engraving. As D. Albert Soeffing notes in Silver Medallion Flatware (see page 19), this engraving was also used later by George Shiebler for his 'Homeric' flatware design. Knight's work was referenced by other designers also, as clearly indicated by these goblets.

These excellent examples of medallion holloware are stamped underneath with Wood & Hughes's trademark along with the coin silver standard mark - '900/1000'. They measure 6 inches high by 3.25 inches wide at the top, weigh a combined 8.95 troy ounces, have never been monogrammed and are in very good condition.