Semicircular flat tray with double-reeded, raised rim overturned along back for hanging. Obverse is decorated with an etched and chased border divided into panels containing scenes or vignettes of nursery rhymes with a running band of titles beneath (clockwise from left: "THE PIPER'S SON * LITTLE BO PEEP * THE THREE BEARS * FAIRY STORIES * THREE LITTLE PIGS * RED RIDING HOOD * MARY \ HAD A / LITTLE LAMB * MOTHER HUBBARD * PUSS IN BOOTS * HUMPTY DUMPTY * JACK \ AND / JILL"); triangular panel at top center depicts three Easter Bunnies with eggs; arched panel at bottom center shows Santa Claus on his sleigh; and bottom corner panels have boys and girls reading "ABC" and "FAIRY / STORY" books near a Christmas tree and holly sprigs. Plain bottom. Underside of back edge is struck incuse "GORHAM" in serif letters to left of trademark (right-facing lion passant in clipped-corner square, anchor in shield, and gothic or Old English "G" in clipped-corner square), "STERLING" in sans serif letters, and "1558".
Shallow circular cup with straight sides rounded into a flat bottom, decorated on its exterior with bright cut engraved bouquets of daisy-like flowers, their arched stems framing the inscription at front "TO" in a small scroll pierced by an arrow above ""Kid" from Si / 1890. April 9. 1893." in script. Gilt-washed interior with lip around rim; hollow D- or ear-shaped handle. Bottom underside struck incuse with a conjoined "anchor-ended T & S" motif in rectangular outline, "STERLING" in oval outline, and "20". From child's cup and saucer set, 1991.0794.01-.02.
Maker is A. F. Towle & Son Co.; founded by Anthony Francis Towle and his son Edward Bass Towle as A. F. Towle & Son in Newburyport, MA, 1873; name changed in 1882 and moved to Greenfield, MA in 1890. Company folded in 1900 and was purchased by George C. Lunt in 1902.
Engraved "Lily" pattern child's fork having four curved tines and an upturned, flared and rounded handle bright cut on front with a right-curving raceme of lily-of-the-valley above three leaves, quatrefoil-in-circle motif and pendant line of paired leaves. Engraved "Charlie." in script lengthwise on terminal back. Back of handle struck "TOWLE.MF'G.CO" in incuse serif letters. From a three-piece child's or youth's flatware set (knife, fork, spoon), 1979.0003.01-.03.
Engraved "Lily" pattern child's spoon having an ovoid bowl and upturned, flared and rounded handle bright cut on front with a right-curving raceme of lily-of-the-valley above three leaves, quatrefoil-in-circle motif and pendant line of paired leaves. Engraved "Charlie." in script lengthwise on terminal back. Back of handle struck "TOWLE.MF'G.CO" and "6oz." in incuse serif letters. From a three-piece child's or youth's flatware set (knife, fork, spoon), 1979.0003.01-.03.
Small knife having a blunt blade with integral bolster fitted into a slightly flared, rectangular ivory handle chamfered at edges and rounded-over at end that is engraved lengthwise on front “GOOD GIRLS REWARD” in a scrolled banner, colored black. Mark or front side of blade stamped “THO\S(???)TRAM & SONS / [MANUF]ACTURERS / [SHE]FFIELD” in incuse serif letters. From a two-piece child's or youth's flatware set (knife and fork), 1986.0531.084-.085.
Engraved "Lily" pattern child's knife; made as one piece with blunt blade and flared, rounded handle having a cordate-pattern stamped bolster and engraved "Charlie." in script lengthwise on back of terminal. Bright cut on front with a right-curving raceme of lily-of-the-valley above three leaves, quatrefoil-in-circle motif and pendant line of paired leaves on handle, and matching downward-curved blossoms and trefoil-in-semicircle motif on blade. Back of handle struck "TOWLE.MF'G.CO" in incuse serif letters. From a three-piece child's or youth's flatware set (knife, fork, spoon), 1979.0003.01-.03.
Portia Sperry designed this cloth doll in 1933, which she named after Abraham Lincoln’s mother Nancy Hanks and dressed in a print dress, apron, and sunbonnet. This was the second doll she designed, produced, and sold with a network of local farmwomen in her rural Indiana community during the Great Depression. A charismatic entrepreneur, Sperry persuaded the Marshall Field department store in Chicago, IL to sell the dolls and the Quaker Oat company to donate boxes for shipping them. Her efforts brought thousands of dollars to the women of Brown County, Indiana.
Color print of a tree-lined path in a park (Boston Common) with pedestrians strolling and people seated on benches. An iron fence lines a bank on the left side with a large building visible on the other side of the fence.