Serving spoon (one of a set of ten)

Although relatively little of his work is known, Abraham Dubois was an accomplished silversmith in Philadelphia during the federal period. The teaspoons, with their bright-cut borders and medallions with bellflowers on the end, demonstrate the high quality of engraved work produced by his shop. The ladle varies in detail but is engraved with the same original initials.

The bird figure on the back of the teaspoon bowls is the result of the skills of a diesinker, a specialist craftsman who created the image on an iron die that the silversmith later used to transfer to the spoon. Several diesinkers were active in Philadelphia at the time these spoons were made.

This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.