Artisan Pickle Fork
Q: My wife says this is a pickle fork originally used at a hotel in California. The back of the spoon is marked “CM Co. EP Pat 1912” and “Santa Barbara Biltmore 1929.” The letter “B” is embossed on the front of the handle. Can you tell me anything about this and if it has any value?
A: Research on your fork brings up more questions than answers. The Santa Barbara Biltmore opened in 1927, so we don’t know the significance of the 1929 date. Several different American companies made silver flatware for the Biltmore hotel chain. Among them were International Silver, Oneida, and Reed & Barton. But the maker of your fork, “CM Co.,” is a mystery. The initials “EP” mean the silver was electroplated. The “B” on the front of the handles is obviously for “Biltmore.” We’ve seen a fork in the same pattern with four straight tines. A pickle fork normally has two tines and is smaller than a dinner fork. Your fork is an “artisan” piece made from a dinner fork, possibly as a joke. It has little value as a vintage fork because it has been reworked.
5 responses to “Artisan Pickle Fork”
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taloncrest is correct about the maker ~ a Photoshop enhancement from the web image will show that
Actually I am a bit surprised that the Kovel team used this as a formal response item. Maybe it’s web site test to see who actually reads and thinks about what they read.
If you have a pair of needle-point pliers and practice a bit you can make many of these to sell on ebay. Anyone want to do this with a Tiffany SS piece and claim it came from someone famous?
It looks to be the mark of the Gorham company, which would make it G.M. Co., especially as it seems to be followed by an anchor, which Gorham often used alone on it’s silverplate. The pattern seems to be Commodore Variation, which my guide dates at 1917, but the difference could be a worn date on the item or an error by the author of the guide.
LOL..LOL.. This is a true artisan piece.
Our ladies group at church made several of these for our Christmas Bazaar. We attached small tags that read “DIETERS FORK”!! LOL.. WE also glued on small magnets so they could be put on the frig. You’d be surprised how many of them we sold..
I too own a one-straight-pronged pickle fork with the remaining three prongs as “curly cued”. Mine was made by Rogers & Hamilton. It has no other distinguishing marks other than a somewhat odd looking potted fern mark on the handle at the top and bottom. I had never seen one either until I got this one and then again when I read this article in your newsletter! It would be nice to know who came up with the idea. Especially since obviously my fork and the one spoken of in the article are from different makers.
When I was a school kid, we used to bend forks in this manner and then show them to our friends while saying “Fork You”.