American, late 19th century, front with the Vanderbilt coat of arms below a helmet and foliate mantle headed by an acorn crest, handles with male and female figure with satyr, animals and foliage, the reverse with the monogram above hunting trophies, tassels and berried laurel, all with marks for Tiffany & Co., 123.89 oz. T. weighable silver: twenty-one 10-1/2 in. hollow handle knives, blunt silver-plated blades with marks for Joseph Rodgers & Sons; twenty-three 7-3/4 in. forks; twelve 8-5/8 in. spoons</p>

<p>Notes: The William K. Vanderbilt pattern and the Cornelius Vanderbilt pattern, are two of a few known private flatware patterns produced by Tiffany & Company in the late 19th/early 20th century for Americas wealthiest families including John Mackay, John Carter Brown, J. Pierpont Morgan, William Randolph Hearst, and others. Charles T. Grosjean, acclaimed designer of Tiffanys Lap Over Edge and Chrysanthemum patterns, designed the two Vanderbilt family services, and reportedly charged the family $10,000 before actual production to draft and patent the designs, and create the dies. The patent date for the William Kissim Vanderbilt pattern was issued on January 13, 1885, and manufacture began shortly thereafter. Complete census data for the William K. Vanderbilt service is unknown, and a number of examples in silver and gilt silver are held in museum collections and have surfaced sporadically at auction.</p>

<p>Literature: See Charles H. Carpenter, Jr., <em>Tiffany Silver</em>, pp. 83-84, fig. 109, and William P. Hood, Jr., with Roslyn Berlin and Edward Wawrynek, <em>Tiffany Silver Flatware 1845-1905: When Dining was an Art</em>, pp. 294-297.