Hair Brush (no. 604 A)
Item
Title
Hair Brush (no. 604 A)
Creator
Gorham Manufacturing Company
Date
1897 (ca.)
Dimensions
7 1/4 x 2 inches
Medium
Sterling silver, bone, natural bristles
Object No.
L2013.10.1
Credit line
Cynthia and Timothy McGinn, Granddaughter of Mildred Stickley
Marks
Hallmarked beneath the bristles.
Description
Designs similar to this model were advertised as Christmas gifts in the November 28, 1896 issue of The Outlook, and this brush may have been part of a set that originally had a matching mirror and possibly other items. Model no. 603A–a small hairbrush which featured a slightly more complicated pattern of scrolls and flowers–retailed for $4.50 (about $140 today) and gives some sense of the expense that Stickley spent on his children. These were high-priced items that served as markers of wealth and status for young Mildred Stickley and her family. Just eighteen or nineteen years old when this was engraved with her name, the brush speaks to the rising prosperity the family was experiencing, especially when considering the exquisite silver service they had purchased the previous year.
Provenance
Mildred Stickley; thence by descent.