FINELY ENGRAVED AMERICAN COIN SILVER Lot n° 6

TWO-HANDLED TRAY; Engraved with scroll and foliate decoration surrounding vignettes featuring beavers, leopards, deer, birds, lions, and tigers, a Native American, and renderings of a castellated structure, Monticello and Mount Vernon, with shell and foliate handles, USA, 1851; Marked "WM Gale & Son 1851, 116 Fulton St. New York"; 22 3/4" x 37 1/2" (overall), 258 ozt; Note: A related salver, by William Gale and dating to 1852, also features architectural vignettes amongst scroll work. The salver is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. This finely engraved tray belongs to a select of silver created by William Gale in 1851-52, that was most certainly ordered as a special commission. The group includes an oval salver from 1852, engraved with architectural vignettes, now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago (1977.524). A Gothic pattern cake slice from 1851 features an engraved architectural scene similar to the tray and is cited by the AIC as part of a private collection.