Rare Set of 7 Gorham Gilt Sterling Silver Dinner Knives in Violet Pattern from Roebling Estate

Set of 7 Gorham gilt sterling silver dinner knives in the Violet pattern, custom made for Washington Augustus Roebling and Emily Warren Roebling, showcasing floral motifs in relief on the handles. They measure 9 1/4'' in length and each has "Roebling" engraved on the handle.

Provenance:
Washington Augustus Roebling (1837-1926) and Emily Warren Roebling (1843-1903), and Mary G. Roebling (1905-1994) and Paul Roebling (1934-1994), thence by descent.

Washington A. Roebling is best-known as the civil engineer who built the Brooklyn Bridge, and his wife Emily W. Roebling took over and finished the project after he fell ill. The construction began in 1869 and was completed in 1883.

This part of the sumptuous dinner service which they commissioned attests to the Roeblings' extreme wealth, made possible not only by these large-scale engineering projects but also Washington's stake in the company founded by his father John A. Roebling, which produced electrical and telegraph wire and bridge cable.

Mary G. Roebling, Washington's granddaughter-in-law, inherited the service, and with the help of her son, Paul Roebling, continued to add to it in the 1960s by commissioning Gorham to produce new pieces made in the same pattern. This lot represents only a portion of the larger service. Mary is best-known as a banking magnate who was the first female president of a major U.S. bank, Trenton Trust Company.

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