MAKER'S MARK OF GORHAM MFG. CO., PROVIDENCE, 1897; MARTEL

This pitcher was completed on October 2, 1897, the first year that Gorham's chief designer William E. Codman, introduced a line of hand-made silver in the Art Nouveau taste. After 1900, these wares were named "Martel", meaning hammered in French. The pitcher required sixty-nine hours of silversmithing and an additional forty-three hours to chase. The net factory price (including labor, materials, gilding, overhead, etc.) came to $168.