A Massive American Silver Two-Handled Tray with Engraved Zoological Scenes, William Gale & Son, New York, 1851

Other examples of such elaborate scenic engraving are found with the mark of William Gale and Son. One with similar scenes of animals but including Mount Vernon and Monticello was sold Sotheby’s New York, Jan. 25-26, 2013, lot 207 and resold Heritage Auctions, May 8 2014, lot 68001, from the collection of Dr. Charles L. Venable. The catalogue entry noted that most of the animals depicted were based on engravings in Oliver Goldsmith’s A History of the Earth and Animated Nature, first published in 1774. One however, also depicted on the present tray, the leopard in a tree, was found as a mirror image on the front page of the Penny Magazine, of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge Jan. 5, 1833.

William Gale, Sr.(1799-1864), received a patent on December 7, 1826 for roller dies which vastly improved the production of spoons and forks. His expanded business as well as investment in real estate made him a wealthy man. His estate in 1867 was valued at several hundred thousand dollars, the equivalent of many millions today (Charles L. Venable, Silver in America, 1840-1940, A Century of Splendor, 1994, p.319).