Silver Spoon Antiques

 Up for auction a number of years ago was a group of memorabilia related to King Henri I of Haiti.   On March 28, 1811, a former slave and now revolutionary leader, Henri Christophe, had declared himself King Henri I of the Kingdom of Haiti. He established a monarchy and attempted to modernise the country through various reforms, including building infrastructure, promoting education, and encouraging agricultural development. Christophe is also known for constructing the Citadelle Laferrière, a massive fortress that remains a symbol of Haitian resilience and ingenuity. In this lot was a spoon that was later resold through another auction house. It is crested with Henri's crest and has an unknown maker's mark struck three times ( Crowned LS or IS ) on the back of the spoon. This maker is probably an unidentified Haitian silversmith. There is still much research and work to be done on the silver and goldsmiths of the Caribbean Islands, as well as other colonial decorative arts i...

A 1676 map of the Somers Isles (Bermuda) by John Speed, based on the map of surveyor Richard Norwood Bermuda is a fairly isolated set of islands in the Atlantic Ocean around 650 miles east of the coast of North Carolina. There are seven main islands and several more smaller islands. The main islands are all close enough to be connected by bridges and are usually referred to together as the Island of Bermuda. The islands were first discovered by Jaun de Bermudez in 1503. Juan was a Spanish explorer and, although the island is named after him he didn't attempt to land on the islands because of the dangerous reef. Over 100 years later in 1609, George Somers was leading a group of colonists from England when they were shipwrecked on Bermuda. They found the island to be uninhabited. They were stranded there for 10 months. When they returned and told stories of the beautiful island, King James decided to extend the Charter of the Virginia Company to include it in 1612. That sam...