7 Vintage Rogers Smith & Co Fruit Butter Dinner Knives Spreaders 5.5"

Description

Set of seven vintage Rogers Smith & Company silver plate fruit knives or spreaders.

""William Hazen Rogers (born May 13, 1801) was an American master silversmith and a pioneer in the silver-plate industry and whose work and name have survived to the present day.

Rogers – together with his two brothers and, later, his son – was responsible for more than 100 patterns of silver and silver-plated cutlery and serving dishes.

Many of Roger's designs were influenced by Louis XIV-style patterns of the 17th and 18th century in France, and he was best known for his Elberon pattern and ""Presidential"" cutlery series.

Rogers partnered with other silversmiths at times, and his company and trademarks were eventually taken over by larger companies. Rogers was born on a farm on May 13, 1801, to Sarah Reynolds (born 1777; date of death unknown) and Asa Rogers (born 1798; died 1824 in Hartford, Connecticut). After he left home, he went on to become a silversmith, watchmaker and jeweler. From 1820 to 1825, Rogers was an apprentice to Joseph Church, a silversmith and watchmaker in Hartford. (Church subsequently also became an official and a director of The Aetna Life Insurance Company).

In 1825, Rogers became partners with Church and their company, Church & Rogers, initially manufactured silver-plate flatware and hollowware.

He was also partner, from 1832 to 1838, with Asa Harris Rogers, his younger brother, as ""A Rogers Jr. & Co."" while still associated with Church & Rogers.
Rogers is a recurrent name in American makers of coin, sterling and silverplate ware.
There is a great confusion about the firms bearing this name.
The number of companies using the Rogers name is countless. The men managing the various ""Rogers"" companies sometimes were linked by family relationships but often this was not the case.
The best known trademark is "" 1847 Rogers Bros "", used from 1862, but lots of companies with this name were created, merged, separated in an endless succession of intertwined relationships. The companies in which one or more of the original Rogers brothers (William, Asa and Simeon) were actively interested, in existence in the 1930s (or at least the brands carrying their name), and the dates they were organized are as follows: Rogers Brothers, Hartford, in 1847; Rogers, Smith & Co., Hartford, in 1856; Rogers & Brother, Waterbury, in 1858; William Rogers Mfg. Co. (Wm. Rogers & Son), Hartford, in 1865; Rogers Cutlery Co., Hartford, in 1871.
These concerns, as well as the Meriden Britannia Co. which beginning in 1862 continued the production of ""1847 Rogers Bros"", are all of the concerns in which the three original brothers have been connected and at various times have become part of the lnternational Silver Co. All three of the partners, William, Asa and Simeon, were in the employ of the Meriden Britannia Co. when they died.

Condition

Fair Condition - Tarnish; one tip broken, some small edge gouges

Dimensions

5.5” x 0.75” (Length x Width)