FINELY ENGRAVED AMERICAN COIN SILVER TWO-HANDLED TRAY

Engraved with scroll and foliate decoration surrounding vignettes featuring beavers, leopards, deer, birds, lions, and tigers, a Native American, and renderings of a castellated structure, Monticello and Mount Vernon, with shell and foliate handles, USA, 1851
Marked "WM Gale & Son 1851, 116 Fulton St. New York"
22 3/4" x 37 1/2" (overall), 258 ozt
This finely engraved tray belongs to a select of silver created by William Gale in 1851-52, that was most certainly ordered as a special commission. The group includes an oval salver from 1852, engraved with architectural vignettes, now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago (1977.524). A Gothic pattern cake slice from 1851 features an engraved architectural scene similar to the tray and is cited by the AIC as part of a private collection.
Condition Report: Excellent quality and condition, very fine engraving, some light scratches as expected.