$3,500
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000
Auction: February 22, 2017 10:00:00 AM EDT
In the 'Francis I' pattern, comprising eighteen teaspoons; fourteen iced tea spoons; twelve each dinner forks, salad forks, gilt-washed dessert forks, gilt-washed tea spoons, gilt-washed demitasse spoons, bouillon spoons, olive forks, dinner knives, and butter knives; six cream soup spoons; two each tomato servers, gilt-washed salt spoons, cheese knives, and small serving forks; and one each cake knife, pie knife, butter server, vegetable fork, large serving spoon, soup ladle, sauce ladle, gravy ladle, cheese scoop, tongs, dinner bell, candle snuffer, and letter opener; sold together with a custom fitted and monogrammed mahogany box. (167).
L: 9 in. (dinner knives); Weighable silver: 192.76 oz. t. (approx.)A pattern fit for royalty, the "Francis I" flatware pattern is Reed & Barton's most impressive and widely admired design. Designed by Ernest Meyers between 1906 and 1908, the pattern was inspired by the Renaissance-Baroque metalwork of Benvenuto Cellini, the sculptor to King Francis I of France. As a reference to the date of the king's coronation in 1515, Meyers designed fifteen different fruit and flower arrangements to adorn each "Francis I" piece, leading the design to commonly be referred to as "fifteen patterns in one." The ornate opulence and decorativeness of "Francis I" has made it a favored service of royal, political, and aristocratic patrons and the pattern has been known to have been used by three American presidents. In 1924, Reed & Barton was awarded one million dollars to design a "Francis I" pattern sterling silver dinner service for the Maharajah of Barwani of India. This pattern has remained Reed & Barton's signature pattern, and the most timeless and sought after design.