The Lamson & Goodnow Company was founded in 1844, in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, when Abel F. and Ebenezer Goodnow joined their cousins, brothers Ebenezer and Nathaniel Lamson, to make cutlery. By 1860, Lamson & Goodnow was the largest producer in the United States. This carving fork was part of a wedding present to Charlotte Wardner Lamson when she married Charles Hyde Warren in 1905. She was the granddaughter of Ebenezer Lamson, one of the original partners. The fork has an elegant mother-of-pearl handle made from pearl oyster shells.

A carving fork is used to hold meat so that a carver can slice segments from it. The first known carving forks were used in Spain in the 15th century. In England, they became more common in the mid-17th century.