An American 14k Gold Large Two-Handled Presentation Cup, Gorham Mfg. Co., Providence, RI, Circa 1913

The inscription reads “Presented to Frank W. Woolworth, with the Esteem and Affection of the Board of Directors of the Irving National Bank, Commemorative of the bank’s occupancy of its handsome new home in the Woolworth Building April 28 1913”. The back is engraved with twenty-nine facsimile signatures of the Directors, topped by that of Lewis Pierson.

The Woolworth Building, built by Frank W. Woolworth, the salesman and Lewis Pierson, the banker, was the tallest building in the world from 1913 to 1930. The Irving National Bank was founded in 1851 as the Irving Bank of New York and occupied part of the Woolworth building from its beginning until 1931 when it moved to No 1 Wall Street, becoming Irving Trust. It was acquired in 1988 by the Bank of New York.