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.
