A matched pair of 19th c. Dominick & Haff Sterling Silver Charleston Souvenir Citrus Spoons c. 1891 made for James Allen & Company of Charleston South Carolina, which was in business from 1865 until 1920. Each spoon 6" long. Weight 55 grams. PROVENANCE: A Charleston SC Private Estate. On April 14, 1865, four years to the day after surrendering Fort Sumter to the Confederacy, Union General Robert Anderson was back in Charleston reclaiming what was left of it for the United States. For Charleston, the long and disastrous war was over, and a long road to recovery just begun. For the next few decades, however, Charleston’s economy steadily improved, as did some of its agricultural and mercantile interests. James Allen, a Scottish-born silversmith, jeweler, and retailer who had established his Charleston firm just before the War in 1855, was one of several who actually flourished in the post-bellum period. For years, James Allen’s company produced all manner of jewelry and silverwares for local consumers, and by the fortieth anniversary of the Confederate firing on Fort Sumter, was producing souvenir spoons stamped from iron dies. These spoons depict iconic images from both the Revolutionary and Civil wars. On the handle, a stoic Sergeant William Jasper of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment points toward the defeated British fleet after the 1776 battle of Fort Sullivan. Below in the spoon’s bowl are embossed the unmistakable blasted out ruins of Fort Sumter circa 1865. The backs have "Charleston" in a ornate Art Nouveau Script. Ref: The Charleston Museum

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