The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Stanley B. Ineson

Title: Papers

Dates: 1931-1960, 1935-1942 (bulk)

Call No.: Col. 1

Acc. No.: 76x168

Quantity: 7 boxes

Location: 17 A 1-2

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Stanley Bailey Ineson was a collector of early American silver spoons. He lived in Glen Cove, New York, with a vacation home in Manchester, Vermont. He worked on Wall Street at Spencer, Trask & Co. Born in Seymour, Connecticut, on December 5, 1882 (other sources say 1881), Ineson graduated from Yale University in 1907. He married Phoebe Pearsall in 1915, and they had at least one child, a daughter named Phoebe.

In 1930, Ineson began collecting early American silver spoons. He amassed some 1,700 items over the next 15 years. Ineson's collection was eventually purchased and presented to the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum by a third party in 1962. The Inesons also collected early American blown glass and pewter.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The Ineson papers were generated in the course of building his silver collection. The bulk of the papers consists of correspondence, including orders, inquiries, requests for appraisals, and more general correspondence. The rest of the collection consists of subject files, clippings, lists of silversmiths, rubbings of touchmarks, photographs of silver, and wax impressions of touchmarks from the backs of silver spoons.

Stanley Ineson advertised for old silver spoons in a number of periodicals. Many of the letters here are responses to his advertisements. They often describe silver spoons (and other silver pieces), offering them for sale. Other letters ask Ineson to appraise silver. Some letters record Ineson's interaction with other avid silver collectors including George B. Cutten, Robert Ensko, Ernest and Lavinia Currier, Charles H. Batchelder, and Irving W. Davis.

The subject files give specific documentation to Ineson's collecting by preserving lists of items in his collection, photographs of their touchmarks, and fragile wax impressions of touchmarks. Ineson's research in dating silver and identifying American silversmiths is also made available in these papers.

ORGANIZATION

The Ineson papers came to the Downs Collection in 1976. They were processed some time thereafter by the manuscript library staff. Some order was apparently imposed on the papers then, as about half of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically, while the other half is arranged chronologically. There is no apparent difference in the contents to explain why two different arrangements are used.

The papers were re-processed in 1989. At this time some minor shifts in order were made to bring the alphabetical correspondence into strict order, and to impose some order on the subject files. The individual shelf numbers that had been necessary for retrieval under the Termatrex indexing system have been noted on the file folders so that the previous order can be restored if some reason is found to do so, so that the Termatrex system can still be used while it is available, and so that previously published citations to the papers using these shelf numbers can still be interpreted.

Filed with the finding aid are four name indexes to the papers, none of which is labeled as to exactly what is being indexed. However, one seems to be an index to the correspondents in the chronological and alphabetical files in Boxes 1-4; the second seems to be an index to names found within the bodies of those letters; the third and fourth indexes seem to cover the subject files in Box 5.

PROVENANCE

Gift of Alfred Bissell.

ACCESS POINTS

People:

Cutten, George Barton, 1874-1962.

Ensko, Robert.

Currier, Ernest.

Currier, Lavinia.

Batchelder, Charles H.

Davis, Irving W.

Topics:

Silverwork, Colonial - United States.

Spoons - United States.

Silver flatware - United States.

Correspondence.

Photoprints.

Clippings.

Rubbings.

Articles.

Drawings.

Lists.

Genealogies.

Silversmiths.

Collectors.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 17 A 1-2

Box 1: Correspondence, A-J

Andrews, Celeste B. (Houston, TX), n.d.

(.1995, .1997-.1999, .2005-.2007, .2010, .2023-.2025, .2027-.2032, .2405-.2407)

Barnard, Marion S. (Barnstable, MA), 1935-1937

(.1-.20)

Barr, Lockwood (New York, NY), 1939-1942

(.21-.28)

Batchelder, Charles H. (Portsmouth, NH), 1940-1943

(.29-.65, .2394-5)

Boston Antique Shop (Boston, MA), 1934, 1936-1940

(.66-.127, .2302)

Boughner, Marion (Walpole, MA), 1937-1940

(.128-141, .2372)

Bury, Edmund (Philadelphia, PA), 1937-1941

(.142-147, .2352)

Button, H.V. (Waterford, NY), 1936-1942

(.148-.156)

Clarke, Hermann F. (Boston, MA), 1935-1937

(.157-.167)

Clifton, Raymond G. (Franklin, NH) 1936-1941

(.168-.175)

Crosby, Everett Uberto (Nantucket, MA), 1939-1941

(.176-.182)

Currier, Ernest and Lavinia (New York, NY and Newburyport, MA), 1935-1936

(.183-.229)

Cutten, George B. (Colgate University, Hamilton, NY), 1934-1942

(.230-.272, .2335, .2371, .2388)

Davidson, Marshall (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY), 1937

(.273-.278)

Davis, Irving W. (Donaldson, CT), 1936-1938

(.279-.344)

Draper, Camilla (St. Louis, MO) 1936-1938

(.345-.368)

Edwards, Sterling W. (Silver Spring, MD), 1937

(.369-.374)

Ensko, Robert (New York, NY), 1935-1943

(.375-.384, .2401-.2404, .2413, .2432

Gebelein Silversmiths (Boston, MA), 1931-1933, 1976

(.2285, .2421-.2428,)

Hall, Margaret S. (Brookline, MA), 1937-1939

(.385-.398)

Hastings, Katharine (New York, NY), 1936-1941

(.399-.411, .2366)

Hatch, Julian H. (Boston, MA), 1940

(.412-.422)

Hawks, Susan B. (Deerfield, MA), 1937-1938

(.423-.433)

Henderson, Helen L. (Hampton, NH), 1935-1942

(.449-.457)

Howell, Adelaide (Norwalk, CT), 1936-1940

(.434-.448)

Ineson, Stanley B. (New York, NY), 1935-1940

(.2261-.2268)

International Silver Co. (Meriden, CT), 1934, 1936-1942

(.467-.480, .2357-.2358, .2397-2398, .2439)

Jenkins, Mary F. (Jamestown, RI), 1939-1941

(.464-.466)

Jones, Maye Parmalee (Wallingford, CT) 1935-1936

(.458-.463)

Box 2: Correspondence, K-W

Kimball Arms Co. (Woburn, MA), 1938-1943

(.481-.499)

Kirk, Samuel, & Son Inc. (Baltimore, MD) 1935-1940

(.500-.506, .2363)

Kranzler, William (New Bedford, MA), 1935-1937

(.507-,521)

Langdon, John (Montreal, QUE), 1936-1942

(.522-.561)

Linton, Myra F. (Norwich, CT), 1934-1938

(.562-.577)

Lippa, Ann (Roxbury, MA), 1939-1942

(.578-.586)

Little, J. & B. (Clifford, VA), 1935-1936

(.587-.590)

Lusty, A. Leland (Troy, NY), 1936

(.591-.596)

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), 1931-1939

(.2270, .2282, .2305, .2310-.2312, .2325-.2327, .2410-.2412)

Miller, Abby M. (Seattle, WA), n.d.

(.597-.598)

Montgomery, Charles F. (Wallingford, CT), 1940-1941

(.619-.625)

Moore, Hazel B. (Swampscott, MA), 1935-1936

(.599-.609)

Moss, Leonard H. (Woodmere, Long Island, NY), 1936-1940

(.610-.618)

Nevil, J. E. (Cincinnati, OH), 1937-1938

(.626-.634)

Notkin,Savely B. (Seattle, WA), 1923(?), 1936-1943

(.635-.645)

Osborne, Mabel C. (Upper Montclair, NJ), 1935-1942

(.646-.664)

Osburn, Luna C. (Portsmouth, NH), 1939-1940

(.665-.672, .2328-.2329, .2332, .2334, .2348)

Parkinson, Martha Jane Reed (Martha Jane's Antiques, Philadelphia, PA)1936-1941

(.673-.678)

Perry, Eleanor B. (Claremont and Keene, NH) 1935-1937

(.714-.734)

Phillips, John M. (Yale University, School of Fine Arts, Newtown, CT) 1933-1941

(.679-.713, .2289, .2297-.2301, .2303-.2304, .2306 plus a

few others)

Pond, Katharine A. (Salem, MA), 1943

(.735-.792, .2108)

Rosenfeld, Frank M. (Elberon, NJ) 1940-194l)

(.743-.742)

Rupert, Mary Swift, Anna, and Charles G. (Wilmington, DE), 1930-1931, 1939-1940

(.2269-.2571, .2359, .2365)

Sherman, Frederic Fairchild and Julia (Westport, CT) 1939-1942

(.701-.783)

Smith, Flora A. (New Rochelle, NY) 1935-1938

(.784-.815)

Stern's Antique Jewelry Store (Denver, CO) 1937-1938

(.1285-.1293)

Thomas, Floyd L. (Old Houses, Litchfield, CT) 1935-1942

(.106l-.1073)

Thumler Brothers (San Francisco, CA) 1938-1941

(.1448-.1456)

Traver, John DuBois (Hudson, NY) 1936-1940

(.1164-.1179)

Whitlock's Inc. (New Haven, CT) 1935-1940

(.816-.843)

Widmer, Frederick T. (Boston, MA) 1932-1944

(.844-.1005)

Wortham, Alvin (Lakeville, CT) 1937-1938

(.1006-.1014)

Wyman, Elizabeth S. (Belmar, NJ) 1936-1941

(.1015-.1024)

Box 3: Correspondence, Chronological, 1931-1939

Correspondence, Chronological, 1931-1934

(.1026-.1030, .2272-.2275, .2277, .2280-2281, .2283-.2284, .2286-.2288, .2290-.2296, .2307, .2420

Correspondence, Chronological, 1935

(.103l-.1073, [except .1061-.1073 now in Box 2, Thomas]

.2308, .2313-.2315)

Correspondence, Chronological, January-June 1936

(.1104-.1199 [except .1164-.1179 now in Box 2, Traver]

.2317-.2318)

Correspondence, Chronological, July-December 1936

(.1200-.1262)

Correspondence, Chronological, January-June 1937

(.1263-.1341 [plus .1025 "Blanchard's" 30 Jan.]

[except .1285-.1293, now in box 2, Stern's] plus .2321)

Correspondence, Chronological, July-December 1937

(.1342-.1405, .2322, .2430)

Correspondence, Chronological, January-June l938)

(.1406-.1531) [Except .1448-.1156 now in box 2, Trumler] .2323-.2324)

Correspondence, Chronological, July-December 1938

(.1532-.1582)

Correspondence, Chronological, January-June 1939

(.1583-.1660, .2330, .2333, .2336)

Box 4: Correspondence, Chronological, 1939-1944, n.d.

Correspondence, Chronological, July-December 1939

(.1661-.1704, .2339-.2342, .2345-.2349)

Correspondence, Chronological, January-June l940

(.1705-.1765, .2351, .2359-.2362, .2364, .2367-.2370, .2373-.2378)

Correspondence, Chronological, July-December 1940

(.1766-.1797, .2379-.2386)

Correspondence, Chronological, January-June 194l

(.1798-.1877, 2387, .2389, .2392-.2393, .2396)

Correspondence, Chronological, July-December 194l

(.1878-.1909, .2399)

Correspondence, Chronological, 1942

(.19l0-.1968, .2400

Correspondence, Chronological, 1943

(.1969-.1983)

Correspondence, Chronological, 1944

(.1984-.1990)

Box 5: Subject files

Account ledger of silver purchases, 1930-1941

Addresses

from between .2111-.2260

Articles, clippings

(.2535-.2543)

Business cards

from between .2111-.2260

Clippings, 1934-1935

Clippings, 1936-1937

Clippings, 1938-1939

Clippings, 1940

Clippings, 194l

Clippings, 1942

Clippings, 1948

Clippings, 1960, undated

Dating American silver spoons

(.2530-.2531)

Drawings

from between .214-.2260

Historical and other notes

(.2433-.2458)

Lists of silversmiths and spoons

(.2459-.2502)

Lists of silver, advertisements

from between .2111-.2260

Lists of silversmiths: Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts

(.2503-.2511)

Lists of spoons and silversmiths

(.2512-.2529)

Moulton family

(.2532-.2534)

Rapelie/Rapelje genealogy

(.220l)

Rubbings of silver marks

Box 6: Photographs

Photographs: Silver objects with touchmarks, file 1

Photographs: Silver objects with touchmarks, file 2

Photographs: Silver objects with touchmarks, file 3

Photographs: Silver objects with touchmarks, file 4

Photographs: Silversmithing

Photographs: Silver sugar tongs

Photographs: Silver spoons and other objects

Photographs: "Design for the Machine" exhibition, January-April 1932

Photographs: Furniture and paintings

Box 7: Photographs and wax impressions

List of hallmarks, A-Z, and photographs of hallmarks

Photographs: Touchmarks (close-ups)

Notes on Canadian silversmiths and photographs of their touchmarks

Photographs, oversized: 2 of a silver plate and one of a portrait of George Washington

House and Garden article on Winterthur, February 1952, and some photographs of Winterthur

American Collector, Nov. 1941, article on Ineson (p. 14)

Wax impressions from spoons (in four small containers)