View source for CATALINA SOUVENIR SPOONS: JOSEPH MAYER & BROTHERS, SEATTLE, WA


'''CATALINA SOUVENIR SPOONS: JOSEPH MAYER & BROTHERS, SEATTLE, WA'''

The Joseph Mayer and Bros. firm of Seattle, WA was founded in 1897 and some of its offshoots and successor firms operated until the last quarter of the 20th century.  Both Joseph Mayer & Bros. and its offshoot, Joseph Mayer Co. (1920-1937), produced Catalina souvenir teaspoons.  They produced at least two Catalina specialty teaspoons featuring distinctive Catalina attractions, but more commonly they decorated their generic stock California, southern California, and floral pattern teaspoons with one of three different Avalon Bay scene embossed bowls, their Type 2 design, being the most frequent. They also produced a range of demitasse spoons decorated with embossed bowls featuring one of two Avalon Bay scenes. 

According to spoon expert, Harry Merrick: Types 1 and 3 are very similar and differ most obviously in the serifs on the letters in captions.  They have a somewhat more photographic appearance than Type 2, which has a somewhat more "engraving-like" feel to it.  Type 2 is probably the earliest, but only Type 1 can be reasonably confidently dated to ca. 1905.

[[File:MB.png|350px|thumbnail|left|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Mayer Bros. spoon maker's mark</center>]]

[[File:J. Mayer & Bros Type 1 embossed bowl.jpg |350px|thumbnail| right|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Type 1 embossed bowl, c. 1905<br>Joseph Mayer & Bros.png</center>]]

[[File:J. Mayer & Bros Tyoe 2 embossed bowl.jpg|350px|thumbnail| right|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Type 2 embossed bowl<br>Joseph Mayer & Bros.png</center>]]

[[File: J Mayer & Bros. Type 3 embossed bowl.jpg|350px|thumbnail| right|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Type 3 embossed bowl<br>Joseph Mayer & Bros.</center>]]


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[[File:Mayer Bros.png|350px|thumbnail|left|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Joseph Mayer & Bros.<br>Type 2 embossed bowl</center>]]

[[File:-1 Mayer - 3 Varieties.jpg|350px|thumbnail|left|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Joseph Mayer & Bros.<br>Three bowl varieties: plain undecorated<br> engraved with an Avalon scene <br> embossed with an Avalon scene</center>]]

[[File:Tuna spoon.png|350px|thumbnail|right|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Joseph Mayer & Bros.<br>c. late 1905<br>engraved with an Avalon scene, pre-1929 <br> Hotel Metropole on the handle; SS. ''Cabrillo''; Pilgrim Club<br>[original in SCIF archives]</center>]]

[[File:J Mayer tuna spoon.png|350px|thumbnail|right|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Joseph Mayer & Bros.<br>c. late 1905<br>engraved with an Avalon scene, pre-1929 <br> Hotel Metropole on the handle; SS. ''Cabrillo''; Pilgrim Club<br>[original in SCIF archives]</center>]]

[[File:Screen Shot 2020-11-23 at 1.20.30 PM.png|350px|thumbnail|right|<center>Avalon Bay, Catalina Island <br>Joseph Mayer & Bros.<br>c. late 1905<br>engraved with an Avalon scene, pre-1929 <br> Hotel Metropole on the handle; SS. ''Cabrillo''; Pilgrim Club<br>[original in SCIF archives]<br>This is one of only two known examples of the Hotel Metropole to appear on a manufactured Santa Catalina Island souvenir spoon known. (The other is on the reverse of a C. M. Robbins spoon.)</center>]]