Please note: This exhibit is CLOSED - for reference only.
Please note: This exhibit is CLOSED - for reference only.
Today our homes are filled with objects made with plastics, aluminum, and stainless steel. But for earlier generations these materials were not available. People relied on a few natural substances for many needs. We think of silver in terms of shiny baubles from Tiffany’s and other luxury items, but it was once used in many aspects of life. Silver was considered a “miracle” material because it was functional and relatively easy to obtain. It was malleable, so it could be worked in many ways, and ductile, with the ability be drawn into a very fine wire. It was also recyclable - old and damaged silver pieces could be melted down and formed into something else. |
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The silver available for use in Delaware came from old coins and silver pieces, mostly imported from England. A few Delawareans brought silver with them when they emigrated, but during the Colonial period, England allowed only finished silver objects made by English silversmiths to be exported to America. Any new silver object had to be made from existing material. Most early customers provided the silver material from which a silversmith made an object by special order. | |
 The
uses of silver ranged from everyday objects such as eating utensils to
objects used for health purposes, such as eyeglasses and feeding tubes.
Silver found its way into many aspects of social and public life - for
sport, for recognition and honor, as seen in trophies to recognize the
winner of an athletic contest or a sword to commemorate a career. Silver
objects were given as gifts of devotion, such as the scissor clips that
were among the few acceptable tokens of friendship a man could give to a
young woman. In some cases, silver was given as a mark of gratitude - as
in the case of the tea and coffee service set presented to abolitionist
Thomas Garrett in 1866 by the African-American community in Wilmington. |
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Spoons and Spectacles: Silver in
Delaware Life, PLEASE NOTE: This exhibit is CLOSED - for reference only. Click here for information on the Exhibition Preview! Click here for information on Delaware
History Museum - click here for directions/cost
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© 2008 Historical Society of Delaware
(now Delaware Historical Society)
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