Value Buy Porter Blanchard Sterling Catch-all Dish Gift Ready [ETktJU6M]

A sterling silver dish, coaster or catch-all.  This is a stunning example of high quality hand-wrought silversmithing by one of America's most talented and sought after silversmiths; Porter Blanchard. Although simple, this rare dish is a striking example of arts & crafts silver.  A clean and simple design with a flower like cut rim and a shallow neat center bowl area.  It is the type of piece that could easily sit in the most clean of environments.  It was wrought from a good thickness of sterling, and so is very tactile in the hand.

Porter Blanchard learned his trade from his father, George Porter Blanchard (who worked for Arthur Stone from 1906-09) in Gardner, Mass. He was a Member of the Society of Arts & Crafts, Boston, where he was a member Craftsman 1913-16, Master Craftsman from 1917, and awarded their highest honor, the designation of "Medalist" in 1944. 

In 1923, Porter Blanchard moved to Burbank, California, and was joined in 1925 by his brother and father. He became one of Southern California's leading silversmiths and the "Silversmith to the Stars." One of his best clients was the reclusive Joan Crawford, whom he never met. She always ordered by phone.

This dish is very versatile. It is wide enough to be a bottle coaster for champagne or wine bottle, or it could be a catch-all, vide poche, by a front door or bedside table for keys and change.  One can see all of the hand struck hammer marks taken to meticulously had shape this beautiful work of art. 

It is marked underneath 'PORTER BLANCHARD/ STERLING.' It measures six inches in diameter and is presented in excellent antique condition with light scratching.  Made in America, circa 1930's.