71-PIECE PARTIAL SERVICE GORHAM CO. "DOLLY MADISON" PATTERN STERLING SILVER FLATWARE, ALL PIECES ENGRAVED WITH DEMIHIND MOTIF FROM MENCKEN FAMILY. Retailed by Hennegan-Bates, Baltimore. Including 12 dinner knives, L: 9 5/8"; 10 dinner forks, L: 7 7/8"; 12 cream soup spoons, 10 iced tea spoons, 12 demitasse spoons, 9 seafood forks, and 6 flat-handle butter knives. - Wt.: 65.4 troy oz. (excluding knives). Estimate $900-1,200
PROVENANCE: This silver was presented to journalist and Baltimore Sunday Sun editor H.L. Mencken at the time of his 1930 marriage to Sara Haardt, a German-American novelist and professor, by the A.S. Abell Co. President and publisher of The Baltimore Sun newspapers. It descended to Mencken's brother August, then to William Schmick Sr., the publisher of Baltimore Sun at the time, and then by descent through the Schmick family.
See the Mencken family crest can viewed here: https://www.my-coat-of-arms.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?Surname=Mencken
