A FINE LAP OVER EDGE PATTERN SILVER FLATWARE SERVICE
A FINE LAP OVER EDGE PATTERN SILVER FLATWARE SERVICE

MARKED TIFFANY & CO., CIRCA 1890

Details
A FINE LAP OVER EDGE PATTERN SILVER FLATWARE SERVICE
Marked Tiffany & Co., circa 1890
The handles etched with different fish, birds, flowers, foliage and insects, comprising:
Ten dinner forks including maple leaves, maple leaves and water, pines and bats, dandelions, crayfish, fish, and various flowers and foliage
Sixteen lunch forks including dragonflies, mushrooms, birds, and various flowers and foliage.
Eleven dinner knives including seahorses, birds in rain, frogs, dragonflies, octopus and crab, mushrooms, turtles, fish in seaweed, and grasshopper.
Fourteen lunch knives including shrimp, shells, chicks, waterlilies, acorns, pinecones, wheat, rabbits, mushrooms, geese, lilies, and various flowers.
Twelve fruit knives including birds in rain, maple leaves in rain, dragonflies, mushrooms, turtles, fish, and various flowers.
Nine tablespoons including leaves in water, birds and grass, butterflies and grass, dragonflies, moths, birds, and various foliage.
Twelve dessert spoons including grapes, gourds, blackberries, and various berries and foliage.
Seven teaspoons including butterflies, birds, spider, and various foliage.
Nine demitasse spoons including trout, leaves and water, lobster, butterflies, crab and net, chrysanthemums, and various foliage.
Eight cocktail forks including fish, shells, seaweed, seahorses, lobsters, and foliage.
A master butter knife with bamboo.
Weighable silver 109oz. (3407gr.) (109)

Lot Essay

Designed by Charles Grosjean in the Aesthetic style, Lap Over Edge was unique as every handle of the service was decorated with a different flower, fish, animal or insect. The designs for much of the decoration were inspired by Japanese design books and wood-block prints. Lap Over Edge is considered one of Tiffany & Co.'s most daring and innovative flatware patterns. The high costs of finishing each piece individually meant that this service was never intended for the mass market, but was produced as an exclusive line for the wealthiest Americans.

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