Category: Silverplate items

A little history for the 1925 Broadmoor Polo Association Foxhall Keene Trophy Pitcher

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Functional items, Item highlight, Silverplate items, Tips for the beginner, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

Several years ago, I happened across this wonderful trophy that is in the shape of a pitcher at a local flea market.  When I first saw it on the shelf, I didn’t see the engraving on the side of it.  When I read what it said, I got to wondering about who Foxhall Keene was and what exactly what the Broadmoor was as well.

The first thing to do is to look at the pitcher itself.  It was made by the Wilcox Silverplate Company, and it dates to somewhere between the 1910’s and the 1920’s.  This helps solidify the date that’s on the pitcher, so the next thing to do is to figure out what the Broadmoor was.

Just what was or is the Broadmoor?  The Broadmoor is a hotel and resort that’s located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The original hotel is Broadmoor Main, and it was built in 1918.  The resort has had hockey and golf championships, and there’s even polo that is played there.

There’s only one question left for this trophy—who in the world is Foxhall Keene?

Foxhall Keene was quite the competitor.  He was a golfer who competed in the U.S. Open, an amateur tennis player, and he was also a pioneer race car driver who vied for the Gordon Bennett Cup (this was a racing cup that ran from 1900 to 1905 with several clubs racing for it).

Not only did he do all of this, he was also an American thoroughbred race horse owner and breeder.  To top it off, he was a world and Olympic gold medalist in polo.  Not only that, but he was also rated the best all-around polo player in the United States for eight consecutive years.

And that’s where the trophy comes into play.  When the Broadmoor started to play polo at the resort, they named this trophy after Foxhall Keene because he was so accomplished in polo.

It’s always fun for me to find out what the history of a piece is, just like this trophy.  What kinds of finds have you run across that you have found out the history of?

A little history of a Victorian red tomato server

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Beginning to collect, Item highlight, Silverplate items, Tips for the beginner, Victorian era, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

During the Victorian era, you could find a serving piece for just about anything.  Olive forks? Got it.  Cake servers?  Yep, got that too.  But have you ever run across a red tomato server?

These items are great.  Tomato servers come in two different variations, one for red tomatoes and one for green.  Why in the world would you have a different one for each type of tomatoes?  Its simple really when you think about it.  The red tomato servers have the openings built in for all of the juice from the tomato to drain through the server and not onto your tablecloth.

The server for the green tomatoes does not have the openings for the fact that the green tomatoes are not as messy and don’t need the openings.  You could even use the green tomato server for fried green tomatoes.

Currently in my Etsy shop, there is a red tomato server that was made by the William Rogers Company.  Its made of silverplate and sports the LA FRANCE pattern.  You can see the piece here.

The Victorian era truly did make a ide variety of serving pieces for the table.  What items have you run across while shopping?

Ever see a Victorian Red Tomato Server?

On By wisdomlaneantiquesIn Serving sets, Silverplate items, Victorian era, Vintage, Vintage, Vintage!Leave a comment

At a local flea market, I ran across a box of spoons not too long ago.  When I started looking through them, I found quite a few utensils that really got my interest.  The Victorian Era was pretty interesting when it came to the serving pieces that were made, and one of those serving pieces was in that box I bought.

That piece is a red tomato server and is marked WM ROGERS MFG ORIGINAL ROGERS.  The server has the LA FRANCE pattern and dates to the early 1900’s.

tomato server

Here’s the kicker—there are two different types of tomato servers.  There’s one for red tomatoes and for green.

There’s a big difference to the server, and it’s that the spade on the green tomato server is not perforated. The red tomatoes can be juicy, so the perforations lets the juice drip through.  Green tomatoes are not nearly as messy so you don’t have to worry as much about spilling tomato juice on the table cloth.

spade

A modern twist on this type of server is that you could use the green tomato server to serve fried green tomatoes.  You can see the red tomato server in my Etsy store here.

What kinds of Victorian serving pieces have you run across?