In January 1884, the New-York Fanciers' Club held its second annual exhibition at Madison Square Garden. The exhibition featured a menagerie of cats, dogs, fish, and fowl. This trophy was awarded to the Southside Sportsmen's Club of Oakdale, Long Island, for their superior exhibit of the live fish. The Sotuhside Sportsmen's Club was established in 1866 and allowed its members to fish, hunt, and play in pristine surroundings and complete privacy. Although this trophy is shaped like a goblet, its rope-like rim makes it impractical for use as a drinking vessel. The shape is a convenient backdrop, however, for ornament alluding to the nature of the award. Three applied trout, spotted with copper, swim around the fishbowl-shaped body among trails of seaweed or marsh grass. A woven wicker creel, suspended from a buckled strap, hangs from the top of the pedestal as if from an angler's shoulder.

Isaac Gouverneur (1749-1800), a New York City merchant, was presented this English cup at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Peacham in 1777. If the family history is correct, the cup's presenter must have acquired the gift in the second-hand market, as it was made fifteen years before the Gouverneurs' marriage. The cup descended through the Gouverneur family, with each generation recording its ownership by adding to the engraving above the foot until the last member donated it to the Society in 1984.

The tradition of the silver (25th) Wedding Anniversary is at least three centuries old and may have originated in Germany. Edwin A. McAlpin (1848-1917) was presented this loving cup by the officers of the Seventh Regiment, New York, on the occassion of his twenty-fifth anniversary of service. As a teenager, McAlpin attempted to enlist in the Union army, but was discharged for being underage. He finally joined the Seventh Regiment, known as the "silk stocking" regiment, in 1869.

These forks, in the "à filet" pattern, were owned by prominent New York merchant Robert Lenox (1759-1839).

These spoons, commemorating Peter Gansevoort (1749-1812) and Catarine Gansevoort (1751-1830) of Albany, belonged to Maria Gansevoort Melville (1791-1872), daughter of Peter Gansevoort and the mother of the author Herman Melville. The spoons were owned by Catharine Gansevoort, who passed them to her daughter. Maria Gansevoort Melville, in turn, passed them on to her daughter Augusta Melville. They were subsequently given to the donor in 1929 by Charlotte Hoadler, a niece of Herman Melville.

In 1828, silver retailer Baldwin Gardiner secured two noteworthy commissions for presentation vases. Both orders came from committees of distinguished civic leaders who had resolved to honor a public figure for demonstration of high moral integrity. Ironically, the vases were intended for men on opposing sides of one of the most notorious and bitterly contested trials of the decade. This vase was presented by citizens of New York to shipbuilder Henry Eckford (1775-1832) shortly after the conclusion of the "conspiracy trials" in which he and several others were indicted by a grand jury for conspiracy to defraud public companies. On July 2, 1828, a huge crowd of citizens gathered at the Broadway House "to unite in a testimony of respect for their injured and esteemed fellow citizen, Mr. Henry Eckford." The other vase went to New York City District Attorney Hugh Maxwell (1787-1873), who led the charge against Eckford.

This salt spoon descended to the donor through Jonathan Dayton Williamson and Louise Schermerhorn.

William Thomson, a Scottish immigrant, manufactured some of New York's most eccentric Empire-style silver. This teapot's anthropomorphic body, exaggerated eagle's-head spout, and talon feet are similar to forms and devices incorporated into Continental silver of the period. The bulbous body with cushion-shaped shoulder and cover is in the oblong style, as the shape was known during the early nineteenth century. Accenting the silhouette is an intricate foliate die-rolled shoulder band, a common border element produced by the hand-turned rolling or flatting mills used by many American silversmiths of the period. These elements are balanced with the eye-catching spout, flexed claw-and-ball feet, and vigorous foliate C-scroll handle, all hand-finished with feather and naturalistic details that enhance the teapot's animated stance. This object was presented to Captain Bowne of the Courier, an early Black Ball Line packet ship, after a return trip in 1819. The ships's passengers presented the captain with this teapot as a token of gratitude. Although their reason remains unclear, the inscription suggests that the captain comforted and protected them under exceptional circumstances, perhaps a storm.