Pearl handled silverware
Age: C. 1900
Maker: Unknown
Materials: Mother of Pearl, Silver
Construction: Hand engraved silver, carved pearl
Description: This set of six knives and six forks all possess monogrammed handles made of Mother of Pearl. There are silver bands that connect the head of the silverware to the handle. The forks are all silver whereas the knives are silver plated to give them a proper edge. The knives possess hand-engraved floral patterns along the length while the forks have their patterning end just before the tines.
Provenance: New Jersey Estate
Size: 8.5" knives, 6.75" forks
Weight: 13.8oz
Condition: Very few scratches mark the pearl or the silver, with no noticed losses or chipping. The silver plating of the knives has grown marginally worn.Meta: mother of pearl, cutlery, pearl
History: Nacre, also known as mother of pearl, is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also what makes up the outer coating of pearls. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.Nacre is found in some of the more ancient lineages of bivalves, gastropods, and cephalopods. However, the inner layer in the great majority of mollusc shells is porcellaneous, not nacreous, and this usually results in a non-iridescent shine, or more rarely in non-nacreous iridescence such as flame structure as is found in conch pearls.The outer layer of pearls and the inside layer of pearl oyster and freshwater pearl mussel shells are made of nacre. Other mollusc families that have a nacreous inner shell layer include marine gastropods such as the Haliotidae, the Trochidae and the Turbinidae.