San Jose California Sainte Claire Hotel Silver Sugar/Marmalade Server VTG 1920's For Sale

Sainte Claire Hotel - San Jose - 1925 - Rare Hotel Silver Marmalade Server

Offered for your consideration is a very rare 1924 - 1925 era bottom marked 5 3/4" tall by 4 7/8" wide silver plate mechanical hinged lid (very rare style) marmalade holder - divided sugar bowl made for the Sainte Claire Hotel that was located in San Jose, California.

This piece was also most likely part of the original order of silver dining ware items for the hotel's 1925 opening!

This is a very rare style of Reed & Barton hotel silver that rarely surfaces. This piece would have been used for either a marmalade server, butter dish, or even a mechanical sugar bowl. The type of piece is very rare in hotel silver, as not much of these were made due to the cost to produce it, along with, all the working parts.

If you collect historic hotel silver, vintage items from San Jose, or rare items from the original Sainte Claire Hotel, you might want to consider this rarity for your collection.

Historically, the Sainte Clair opened in September of 1925 as the venture by California real estate magnet and a member of both Southern Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad board of directors, T.S. Montgomery. His vision was to built one of finest hotels not only in San Jose, but in California, along with, providing some of the finest luxurious accommodations possible. At a a cost of then one million dollars, he succeeded in doing that with his hotel. Montgomery was able to secure the site of the famous Eagle Brewery, which had closed in 1918 with the oncoming Volstead Act which created Prohibition.

TheSan Francisco architectural firm of Weeks and Day was tasked with the design and construction of the hotel. Their firm was considered one of the most prominent in all of California. They also were responsible for famous St. Francis Hotel and the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco. They designed the Sainte Clair asimpressive 6-story hexagon hotel downtown at the intersection of South Market and San Carolos streets in the city. Its architectural style was that of Spanish Renaissance Revival.

The hotel was also known as having"the most elegant accommodations between San Francisco and Los Angeles." Of the many famous celebrities, politicians, famous persons, and so on that stayed at the hotel, which included names such as Bob Hope, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, New York Yankee's Joe DiMaggo, President Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. Some of the most popular social, gathering, and dining areas at the hotel included the Patio Room, the Spartan Room, and the Empire Room.

As time went on during the 20th Century, the hotel started to show its age and became almost a ghost of its former once grand self. A preservation effort was put in place and the building was saved and meticulously restored! Fast forward to today, and the hotel still stands and is operational as the Westin San Jose.

This would have been used for actual table and private room service at the hotel. It would have been used connection with the Sainte Claire hotel china and glassware for actual table service. It is the heavyweight type steamship, restaurant, and railroad silver plate.

This sugar bowl was made by the Reed & Barton Silver Co., of Taunton, Massachusetts. It is silver soldered, has the catalog number 4582 SD 2, and is marked on the bottom"HOTEL SAINTE CLAIRE", "SAN JOSE". It has a most beautifulupper mount in the gadroon pattern. It does have some slight bending to the top of the hinged lid, but it still works very well. It has usual scratches, some dings, indentations, etc.,that would expect to see of actual hotel silver used at the hotel over 100 years ago. It has not been cleaned and is offered in the original aged patina.

A wonderful addition to your hotel silver, restaurant ware, or historic San Jose collection.

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