Ladle
INSCRIPTION: Engraved with script initials “WJB” on face of handle.
MARK: Struck on reverse of handle with an intaglio “EASTMAN” mark in a rectangular reserve.
MAKER: Moses Eastman was born in Concord, New Hampshire on 17 June 1794. About 1820 he moved to Savannah Georgia and joined the partnership of J. Penfield & Co. with Josiah Penfield (1785-1828) and Frederick Marquand (1799-1882). The firm was dissolved in 1828 and Eastman worked under his own name, referring to himself in advertisements as “M. Eastman; surviving partner and succesor to the late firm of J. Penfield & Co.” In 1834 he married New Jersey native Elizabeth Tuthill (1799-1883) in Savannah. His business apparently continued operations after Eastman’s 1850 death but was eventually sold to George M. Griffen, who had worked for Eastman as a watchmaker. Eastman is buried in his New Hampshire hometown and with his wife Elizabeth Tuthill, who died in Madison, New Jersey. See George Barton Cutten, “The Silversmiths of Georgia” (Savannah, GA: Pigeonhole Press, 1958) and gravestone for Moses and Elizabeth Eastman, Pine Grove Cemetery, East Concord, Merrimack Co., NH (available online: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=104469889&PIpi=74598252 [accessed 20 September 2017]).
FORM: Large silver ladles were popular for serving punch or soup. Most had plain hemispherical bowls, others were round, and a few had scalloped or shaped bowls. Smaller ladles of silver were most often designated for serving sauces and gravy.
