A note on looking up place and serving pieces...
The list of utensils and their descriptions is meant to be a guide, not a hard and fast rule.
Next to each type of utensil is a size or size range in inches. These sizes represent the average size found in
that type of piece of flatware. The majority of patterns made will fall into the sizes listed.
However, pieces range in size from manufacturer to manufacturer and from pattern to pattern. Some
manufacturers made both a long and a short version of a piece, such as the pickle fork and olive spoon, to best
be suited to how these foods were served at the table, such as from a pickle castor or from a relish tray. Some
even made three different sizes in a particular piece, again, to accommodate the needs of each individual hostess.
Keep in mind that if you have a piece which falls outside of the sizes listed that this does not mean your piece is
something different simply because it doesn't "fit". For example, if you're fortunate enough to own a pair of
fried chicken tongs, you'll probably note they're a large affair, ranging in size from nine to eleven inches.
However, if your fried chicken tongs were made by Tiffany & Co., most likely they'll be a mere six inches long
- yet they're still fried chicken tongs regardless of length. The "business ends" of pieces can also vary greatly
from maker to maker. Stieff's bacon fork looks nothing like a bacon fork in any other pattern, yet it's still a
bacon fork because Stieff made it as a bacon fork and sold it as a bacon fork.
Some silver manufacturers also had a habit of remarketing their tableware as sales declined or as a particular
type of food's popularity came and went. What may have been offered one year as a croquette server may have
been sold the next year as a poached egg server. Additionally, some different pieces are very similar to each
other, such as sardine tongs and small sandwich tongs.
The best way to definitively determine what type of piece you own is to refer to old manufacturers' catalogs.
The list of utensils and their descriptions is meant to be a guide, not a hard and fast rule.
Next to each type of utensil is a size or size range in inches. These sizes represent the average size found in
that type of piece of flatware. The majority of patterns made will fall into the sizes listed.
However, pieces range in size from manufacturer to manufacturer and from pattern to pattern. Some
manufacturers made both a long and a short version of a piece, such as the pickle fork and olive spoon, to best
be suited to how these foods were served at the table, such as from a pickle castor or from a relish tray. Some
even made three different sizes in a particular piece, again, to accommodate the needs of each individual hostess.
Keep in mind that if you have a piece which falls outside of the sizes listed that this does not mean your piece is
something different simply because it doesn't "fit". For example, if you're fortunate enough to own a pair of
fried chicken tongs, you'll probably note they're a large affair, ranging in size from nine to eleven inches.
However, if your fried chicken tongs were made by Tiffany & Co., most likely they'll be a mere six inches long
- yet they're still fried chicken tongs regardless of length. The "business ends" of pieces can also vary greatly
from maker to maker. Stieff's bacon fork looks nothing like a bacon fork in any other pattern, yet it's still a
bacon fork because Stieff made it as a bacon fork and sold it as a bacon fork.
Some silver manufacturers also had a habit of remarketing their tableware as sales declined or as a particular
type of food's popularity came and went. What may have been offered one year as a croquette server may have
been sold the next year as a poached egg server. Additionally, some different pieces are very similar to each
other, such as sardine tongs and small sandwich tongs.
The best way to definitively determine what type of piece you own is to refer to old manufacturers' catalogs.
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