Museum Collections

Sardines became a fashionable food after the Civil War, and thus an opportunity for silver manufacturers to craft specialized flatware. Because canned sardines were costly, they were viewed as elegant fare. Silver sardine forks were manufactured by many American silver firms during the late nineteenth century, often designed with shaped or wide bowls, such as the one on this example, and from three to eleven tines. Sardine forks were among the many specialized silver forks, spoons, and knives that were produced during the second half of the nineteenth century. Linked to the nineteenth-century rise of American consumerism, this specialization coincided with the increasing commercialization of American weddings. In fact, this fork was given to Marie Antoinette Baker (1848-1909) on the occasion of her marriage to Fellowes Davis (1848-1920) in 1871.