Joey,
Interesting article on Arley Pett’s Codfish Pins. Reminded me of a codfish pin my
mother had. See the attachment.
The pin is sterling silver and shows a codfish and a gaff or billy handle and a line and hook. It is 4-1/2" wide and 3/4" deep. On the reverse side is engraved "M.E. Bott "Sept.27th. 1892 19Yrs."
When Bill Blanchard had the Jewelry Store(Blanchard’s)on Maine St., next to Cape Ann Savings Bank I showed it to him. He had never seen one like it. I wanted to add this as a comment on the Codfish Pin post but couldn’t figure out how to do it and include the picture.
hey bill,
august 1892 was the mammoth 250th anniversary celebration of the incorporation of the town of gloucester. everybody in town was making and selling souvenir mementos, including silver spoons with codfish on the handle. the biggest merchandiser of these spoons seems to have been jeweler everett lane, of 130 main st. this looks like one of his (arley knows this stuff best of all, so i defer to his i.d.). the bott brothers ran a harness shop for many years at 5 main st. my guess is that this was engraved for one of the younger generation of that family, maybe his birthday?
bring it down the historical next time you’re in town, and we can do some digging.
infamous f.b.
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FB
Think M E Bott was a relative of mine bit don’t know anything about the pin
I would love to know more if you uncover something.
LBC
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This is actually the portion of an old Gloucester souvenir spoon converted to a pin. The gaff or billy handle is part of the oar that made up the spoon’s handle.
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Fred, Arley, Many thanks for your i.d. of my pin. We won’t get up to Gloucester until next year’s Dahlmer family reunion but, I’ll bring it with me then. Bill
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