Vintage Gorham Sterling Silver Martini Spike Vermouth Dispenser in Original Case. Made mostly in the 1950s and 60s, this novelty bar tool is shaped like a medical syringe, to dispense libations in style. The glass tube within is marked in "CC" through the side window, to mimic the medicinal format, with twelve cubic centimeters displayed in total. The words "Pat. Pend." and "Gorham Sterling 428" are stamped on the end of the outer tube. Name of the device printed on inner hinged lid, with "Gorham Sterling" on the green felt inside bottom. 

Box: 8 x 2 x 1 in. 

Spike: 6 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 in. 

The Gorham Manufacturing Company was founded in Providence, Rhode Island in 1831 by Jabez Gorham and Henry Webster. Their coin silver flatware was selected by Mary Todd Lincoln for the White House in 1859. In 1868, they made the switch from coin silver to sterling silver and produced everything from knives, forks, and spoon sets to coffee pots and serving bowls. In 1848, Gorham’s silver marks consisted of a lion, an anchor, and the letter “G.” Then, from 1848 through about 1860, the lion markings faced left instead of right. Sterling tea sets and some other hollowware items were assigned numbers in a decimal sequence. Pieces created between 1868 and 1884 were marked with capital letters. From then until 1933 unique iconography was used, including wolf’s heads and open parachutes. A series of mergers eventually ended in 2009 when the company went bankrupt after being acquired by Lenox Holdings.

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