Flights of Fancy: American Silver Bird-Decorated Spoons

This small but lavishly illustrated catalogue is the first in-depth study ever on silver bird-decorated spoons. Author Donald L. Fennimore, Winterthur's senior curator of metals, narrates the fascinating social, technical, and artistic tale of American silver spoons whose bowls were struck with bird images: from the dove and olive branch to the bald eagle. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these rare and highly collectible objects of true beauty proved to be a significant vehicle for expressing not only creativity but also a new national identity.

Fennimore's lucid and well-researched volume, which accompanies an exhibition of the same name at Winterthur, includes a comprehensive list of East Coast silversmiths who produced these charming objects between 1750 and 1830. Flights of Fancy surely will serve as a single point of reference for all future study of these uniquely American pieces.