Paul de Lamerie was a silversmith based in London and described by the V&A museum as ‘the greatest silversmith working in England in the 18th Century.’ Paul was born in the Netherlands to Huguenot parents in 1688. His father became an officer in William III’s army and moved to London in 1689 when Paul was […]
Old Sheffield Plate – also known as just ‘Sheffield Plate’ and ‘fused plate’ was the first commercially viable technique for plating metal. Thomas Boulsover accidentally discovered the method in Sheffield in 1743 when attempting to repair the handle of a customer’s decorative knife. He’d overheated the handle and the silver melted fusing with the copper. […]
George Nathan and Ridley Hayes – were silversmiths who entered their first joint mark in 1897 in Birmingham. They were particularly known for their Arts & Crafts interpretation of early English silver, producing tea sets and caddies, bowls, baskets and desk sets. They traded under the name Nathan & Hayes and had premises in both […]
Minerva – the assay mark the French use for sterling silver is the head of the goddess Minerva. Higher than for other countries, the French standard for sterling silver requires a silver content of 950 parts per thousand, or 95% silver as opposed to the English standard of 92.5%. A second mark of the Miverva […]
Matthew Boulton was a craftsman based in Birmingham. He was not formally a goldsmith or silversmith but made a great contribution to the craft, becoming the greatest manufacturer of Sheffield plate in the 18th Century using Robert Adams and James Wyatt designs in the Neo-classical style. Mathew was the son of a toy maker and […]
Martin, Hall & Co – were Sheffield based manufacturing silversmiths and electroplated manufacturers and silver, plated and steel cutlers. The firm started in 1820 with the partnership of Henry Wilkinson and John Roberts, trading as Wilkinson & Roberts. Wilkinson left in 1846 and Roberts went into partnership with his former apprentice Ebenezer Hall becoming Roberts […]
Mappin & Webb is a leading retailer of fine silverware and jewellery based in London and is renown as a purveyor of luxury goods holding Royal Warrants to Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales. The firm started in 1774 when Jonathan Mappin opened his first silversmith workshop in Sheffield entering his mark in […]
Levi & Salaman were Birmingham based silversmiths founded in 1870 by Phineas Harris Levi and Joseph Wolff Salaman. They manufactured gilt costume jewellery and then progressed into more expensive silver jewellery and transferred to larger premises in 1872. In 1878 they purchased Potosi Silver Co, a small manufacturer of silverplate spoons and forks. Their wares […]
Lambert & Rawlings were silversmiths based in London who became ‘Silversmiths to Their Majesties and Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent’. The business was started by Francis Lambert in 1803 and became an important retailer of both reproduction and original antique silver plate as well as a manufacturer of silver plate. William Rawlings was […]
Keith & Co. were a London based silversmiths located in City Road, London. Founded in 1824 by John Keith, the firm operated for over a hundred years with an interruption between 1868 and 1874 when his son (John James) and his employees worked at Cox & Sons. They made silverware for the Ecclesiological Society from […]