“The first sterling silver objects I fell in love with were modernist cocktail shakers,” muses John Stuart Gordon, the Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts at Yale University Art Gallery. “They were a whole microcosm in one object type, referencing Jazz Age aesthetics, skyscraper architecture, new materials, the politics of Prohibition, and early-20th-century gender roles.”
...
The narrative presents silver collecting as a bridge between material value and cultural heritage, appealing to both aesthetic appreciation and historical curiosity. At its strongest, it highlights silver’s role as a tangible record of social and artistic evolution, from colonial status symbols to Art Deco innovation. The emphasis on hallmarks and maker’s marks provides a practical framework for authenticity, while the discussion of silver plate offers an accessible entry point for new collector...