MARK OF WHITING MFG. CO., NEW YORK, CIRCA 1870

The iconography of this ice bowl, similar to those created around the same time by Gorham Mfg. Co. in Providence, Rhode Island, relates to the 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, or about two cents per acre, by Secretary of State William H. Seward under President Andrew Johnson. Originally ridiculed by Congress and the press, the new Territory of Alaska was dubbed as Seward’s “ice box” and President Johnson’s “polar bear garden.” Also at this time, the Bostonian Frederic Tudor (1783-1864) developed the technology to harvest, market, and sell ice to an affluent client base. Therefore, as a luxury good in the late 19th century, silver ice bowls such as this one, decorated with motifs of icebergs and polar bears possibly referring to the contemporary nicknames for the Territory of Alaska, reflected its value and prestige.