Set of Five  Coin silver spoons made in Washington DC during the Civil War by Samuel Lewis.  What is the significance of the inscription March 1st 1864?   The civil war began April 12, 1861 and very few people could afford to have sterling items made late into the conflict, 1864.  Who was VCD Voss? Are the initials VCD? It is hard to tell.  What is the provenance? Were the spoons made for the recipient as a "gift" or reward for some service?

These spoons are from my personal collection. I bought them in Boston in the late 1980's while on a business trip.

5 Coin Silver Spoons.  Front of the handle monogrammed with ?VCD Voss (I think)  (the double SS ending is written in the old style where one S looks like an F).  The back of the handle is inscribed "March 1st 1864".  All spoons are identical and marked in the same manner.   Back is Hallmarked Samuel Lewis and another obscured mark.  There are 5 spoons in the set.  approx wt 5 oz unpacked.  Length approx 6".

According to the internet, Samuel Lewis had a shop 2 blocks from the White House and is known to have made items for President Lincoln and other prominent Washington area residents including the prior administration, President Buchanan in the 1850's,

To quote from online references: "Lewis apparently made silver "skippets" to hold the seals on official US treaties (such as the one used by Perry Expedition to Japan) I've also found him mentioned in the online diaries of Montgomery Meigs, one of the architects of the Capitol who later became Quartermaster General of the Union Army during the Civil War....According to Goldsborough (Silver in Maryland), Samuel Lewis was born in 1818, and was apprenticed to Samuel Kirk of Baltimore in 1833. Assuming the traditional apprenticeship of 7 years, he would have begun work in 1840....Re Samuel Lewis' having done work for the White House, the answer appears to be yes. The piece which stimulated my interest is a presentation piece inscribed from the President of the United States to the captain of a British vessel, the Hertfordshire, in thanks for rescuing all passengers and crew of an American ship, the John Gilpin, "from the perils of the sea" when the John Gilpin struck an iceberg in 1859 and sank near the Falkland Islands. My research into naval history confirms the accuracy of the sinking and rescue story. I inquired of the White House curator whether there was an extant receipt for the commissioning of the presentation piece. She was unable to locate one, but she says that the State Department did purchase skippets from Lewis during both the Lincoln and Buchanan administrations. "