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

Mayer Bros. spoon maker's mark

Mayer Bros. spoon maker's mark

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. By 1909, Joseph Mayer & Bros. employed 100 craftsmen who manufactured souvenir spoons, along with sterling flatware and jewelry related items. The Mayers stamped their trademark on everything they made.

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.

In 1938 Joseph Mayer& Bros. became the El.Towle Manufacturing Co. Mayer produced a lot of silver souvenir spoons because the process they used was mechanized, so it didn't cost much to produce each item. However, many pieces are skillfully engraved.

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.

Avalon Bay, Catalina Island
Type 1 embossed bowl, c. 1905
Joseph Mayer & Bros.png

Avalon Bay, Catalina Island
Type 2 embossed bowl
Joseph Mayer & Bros.png

Avalon Bay, Catalina Island
Type 3 embossed bowl
Joseph Mayer & Bros.

The Hotel Metropole on the handle of this Mayer spoon is one of only two known examples of the Hotel Metropole to appear on a manufactured Santa Catalina Island souvenir spoon currently known. (The other is on the reverse of a C. M. Robbins spoon featuring Sugarloaf Rock, a tuna and "Catalina Island" on the front.)

AVALON BAY, CATALINA ISLAND
Joseph Mayer & Bros. tea spoons
Three bowl varieties:
* plain undecorated
* engraved with an Avalon scene [original in SCIF archives]
* embossed with an Avalon scene
Top: SUGAR LOAF, HOTEL METROPOLE, TUNA
Reverse: PILGRIM CLUB, STEAMER CABRILLO, SEAL ROCKS

Avalon Bay, Catalina Island
Joseph Mayer & Bros. tea spoon
engraved bowl with an Avalon scene
[original in SCIF archives]

Avalon Bay, Catalina Island
Joseph Mayer & Bros. tea spoon
c. late 1905
engraved with an Avalon scene
TOP: HOTEL METROPOLE; SS. CABRILLO; PILGRIM CLUB
[original in SCIF archives]

AVALON BAY, CATALINA ISLAND
Joseph Mayer & Bros. demitasse
Type 2 embossed bowl
Top: EUREKA; STATE CAPITOL; WAWONA
Reverse: COURT HOUSE LOS ANGELES; CARMEL MISSION 1770
[original in SCIF archives: Haffey Family Collection]

AVALON BAY CATALINA ISLAND
Joseph Mayer & Bros. Rose pattern tea spoon
Type 2 embossed bowl
Reverse: engraved 3-16-11
5-⅜"
[original in SCIF archives]

CATALINA
Joseph Mayer & Bros. ladle-shaped bowl
Top: EUREKA
Reverse:
"
[original in SCIF archives: Putnam Collection]