Life, 1915-02-11 · page 6 of 44
Life — February 11, 1915 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire page** — it's a **sterling silverware advertisement** for The Gorham Company (silversmiths-goldsmiths, New York). The ornate decorative border and classical imagery are purely aesthetic, designed to evoke luxury and tradition. The text argues that sterling silverware is a sound financial investment, unlike ordinary merchandise that depreciates. It claims Gorham pieces gain sentimental and intrinsic value over time, become family heirlooms, and represent "perfect workmanship and handicraft." The copyright mark "1915" dates this to the World War I era. The ad's messaging reflects early-20th-century attitudes about heirloom quality and permanence in goods — concepts largely absent from modern consumer culture focused on disposability and trends.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ss a] S y wey (+> eS NY! SILVERWARE BUYING _ is not to be classified as ordinary shopping. It is really mating a permanent investment. Nine-tenths of all other merchandise you buy wears out ° quickly, depreciating rapidly by use. STERLING SILVERWARE, on the contrary, has an intrinsic value, uniform everywhere, and unaffected by length of use. Moreover, it is an investment from which you draw daily dividends of useful ser vice and delight of ownership. Its just as valuable intrinsically, and much more so sentimentally, affer twenty years’ use as the day you buy it. To this intrinsie value GORHAM adds the exqui site artistry of perfect workmanship and handicraft. Any piece of Gorham Silverware is a potential heirloom which a future gener: ation would highly prize. ° COPYRIGHT i915 On every piece of’ Gorham Silver: ware this identifying trademark ap- pears. Oflered everywhere by leading jewelers. THE CORHAM CO. SILVERSMITHS — GOLDSMITHS NEW YORK comichooksfeom