A silver and mixed metal "mokume" teapot, Tiffany & Co., New York, circa 1880

the square body set with panels of mokume in silver and other metals, repeated on the hinged cover and in bands on the handle and spout above stylized cloud scrolls, fluted bud finial, marked on base and numbered 4685-1[2?]2, and with French import mark at the neck

Tiffany & Co. copied the mokume technique, "laminations of different metals and alloys...[which] produce an effect like the graining of rare wood and a harmonious play of color," from Japanese metalwork.   It was used to decorate the "Conglomerate Vase" for the Paris Exhibition of 1878, and at the Paris Exposition of 1889 Tiffany & Co. displayed a whole vase in the technique:
composed of fine gold, fine silver, shakado, sedo, and shibuci, the latter three being Japanese alloys, all folded together into a block of twenty-four layers; this block was then twisted and rolled out under the pressure of a 200-ton roller, and, finally, the large piece was backed with sterling silver, rounded and joined (the Paris Herald, quoted in John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, p. 52).

While mokume was often used for accents such as gourds and butterflies on Japanese-style pieces, larger-scale productions are rare.  A miniature cuspidor of 1890 was in the Masco Collection (sold Sotheby's, New York, January 20, 1998, lot 23), and John Loring op. cit. reproduces a mokume puff box, sugar caster, and tea caddy, all 1879-80.