(2) International and (2) Reed & Barton Sterling Serving Coffee Set Pieces - 48.710 ozt. The coffee pot and lidless sugar bowl are from International, while the creamer and lidded sugar bowl, similarly designed, are from Reed & Barton. Two small wood pieces in the handle of the pot. All pieces are marked on their undersides.
Size: 7 1/2 x 4 x 9 1/4 in.
Weight: 48.710 ozt.
The International Silver Company was formed in Meriden, Connecticut in 1898 as a corporation banding together many existing silver companies in the immediate area and beyond, including Meriden Britannia Company, Meriden Silver Plate Co., Middletown Plate Company, C. Rogers & Brother, Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co., Simpson Nickel Company, Watrous Manufacturing Company, Wilcox Silver Plate Co., Barbour Silver Company, Rogers Cutlery, and William Rogers Manufacturing Company. Within a month other Connecticut companies like Holmes & Edwards, Derby Silver, Norwich Cutlery, and Rogers and Hamilton had also joined. Companies outside Connecticut that joined included Manhattan Silver Plate in Lyons, New York and Standard Silver Company, Ltd. in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Into the 20th Century many silver designs carried either the International Silver Company brand or listed them along with the original company as the designer and maker. In the 1920s they began to go by additional names, including Insilco Corporation and ISC. Starting in 1937 they began making silverware specifically for many Hollywood film actresses including Anne Baxter, Joan Crawford, and Judy Garland, and their sponsored Silver Theater was turned into a television program in 1949 that further promoted their wares to new audiences. By the 1960s many of the original factories had been closed or consolidated, leaving the plant in Meriden the primary headquarters and hub of production. In 1979 International Silver, Ltd. was created as a trading company with buying centers for scrap precious metals in Tennessee, Texas, and Nevada, with refining and mining purchase operations in Arizona and California, but in 1982 the Meriden plant was liquidated. Their name continues to appear on new goods to this day, although they have ceased all of their own manufacturing ever since, and designs from throughout their history have been collected by many museums across the United States, including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the British Museum in London.
In 1824 Isaac Babbitt created a silversmith manufacturing company called Babbitt & Crossman in Taunton, Massachusetts. Within a decade the company was failing, and was purchased by Henry Reed and Charles Barton, changing the name to Reed & Barton. Its products included sterling silver and silverplate flatware, expanding to britannia and other items after the takeover. During the American Civil War Reed & Barton produced a considerable quantity of weapons for the Union Army. In 1924 the company merged with silversmith Dominick & Haff, and their products were selected to be used in the White House. They were also chosen to design and produce the official gold, silver, and bronze medals for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Reed & Barton filed for Chapter 11 in February 2015, citing ongoing pension liabilities and decreasing revenue. At the bankruptcy auction their remaining assets were acquired by The Lenox Company, a competing maker of flatware and tableware.
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