Name/Title
Comb, HairEntry/Object ID
2020.008.0017Description
This is a Tortoise shell comb with a silver handle. It is 7" long and 1.25" wide. The pattern on the silver is very similar to that on the silver oval object in 2020.008.0011. There is a silver mark which shows two hash marks, a line, an anchor and a dot inside a circle along with "C1616" "Sterling".
The three symbols above STERLING are Gorham's famous trademark:
lion – anchor – G
The left-hand symbol in your photograph is the lion, the middle is the anchor, and the right is the letter G.
That was the trademark of the Gorham Manufacturing Company of Providence, Rhode Island. A particularly useful comparison is a Gorham sterling comb in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. RISD records its marks as "[lion] [anchor] G / STERLING / C181"—exactly the same arrangement as yours.
Date: ca. 1910–1915
Maker: Gorham Manufacturing Company
Place: Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Marks: Gorham lion-anchor-G trademark; “STERLING”; “C1616”
Notes: C1616 is Gorham's factory pattern/model number. Closely numbered Gorham dressing articles include pattern C1612, dated to the early 20th century, and pattern C1614, with a documented example bearing Gorham's 1911 date mark. The comb therefore probably dates to the early 1910s.
This article was donated by the same person who donated the silver oval shaped box (2020.008.0011). Her mother was Myrtle Mann.Collection
Benicia Historical Museum Collection
