Silversmith

“ The art of the silversmith in England about this period had suffered more than any other artistic industry, and in the matter of design it seemed to have reached the twilight state of semi-insanity, and was utterly devoid of any artistic merit.
A great improvement is, however, to be seen in the work of respectable firms and in that of many private craftsmen of to-day, but many shop windows are still filled with costly work in the precious metals that are worthless from an artistic point of view. ”

“ Marks's career, though brief—for he has died before passing the middle age—was a protest against the ordinary conditions under which the modern silversmith has to work. He insisted that the smith must be at once the designer, the artist, and craftsman. He would have no dies, no machinery, no repetitions; every piece that left his hand was an original, and of no essential part of any piece is there any duplicate. He would have no polishing that would destroy the beauty of the metal's natural colour, no turning that would remove the marks of the tool or injure the modelling. ”

“ The object of the information we are about to supply is to enable the practical silversmith to become a perfect master of his art or profession; and such a condition, when once achieved, will be found of considerable assistance to him in the various kinds of manufacture that present themselves; so that he will know how to begin a piece of work and when to leave it off; be able to remedy a defect in the metal when required, as well as be in a position to form an opinion as to the relative treatment of its different alloys ”

“ Among the silversmith’s final procedures would have been the stamping of his mark, his initials, or his name on the piece. This practice of identifying the maker of an article of gold or silver ware is of long standing, though perhaps not so ancient as the custom by which a painter or sculptor signs his work.
Since the year 1300 the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths of the City of London has been charged by the British government with assaying gold and silver wares 30 and coins, and certifying that the metals are of required fineness. ”

“ Acquiring a complete set of Silversmith tools, or at least a reasonably adequate set, must have been something of a task in itself. When John Coney, a leading Boston silversmith, died in 1722 at the age of 67, the inventory of his goods reflected his many years at the craft. ”

“ Nevertheless, coins of known weight and fineness provided the colonial silversmith with a fairly reliable source of raw material.
The third possible source—plate to be melted down and reworked—was less certain as to quantity but of trustworthy quality. Customers who wanted articles of silver made in the newest fashion often had to provide the smith with raw material—usually an equal weight of plate in the older style. If the old pieces had been wrought in England the mark either of a lion passant or the seated figure of Britannia attested to the fineness of the metal used. ”

“ It thus happens that these creations exhibit the silversmith’s cunning at its best.
A very interesting cup and cover is that known as the “Westbury.” It is a fine example of the Elizabethan silversmith’s work, and is silver-gilt. It is, as is shown in the illustration, in the form of an acorn on a stem with flattened knob, and spreading moulded base, with turned knob to the cover. The cup of the acorn is cleverly suggested by a series of stamped rings. This cup has an inscription which runs:
Given to the Church of Westbury by Collonel Waucklen and Mary Contes of Malbrou. ”

“ In almost every pueblo of Arizona and New Mexico, and in many a Navaho hogan, one may find the primitive silversmith at work. There is no silversmith's shop, but generally in a corner of the quaint pueblo house, or in an adjunct to the Navaho hogan, the worker quietly pursues his important avocation; for in a community whose members have no other metallic arts, the silversmith is an important man, and sees to it that his profession is regarded with the high dignity it deserves. ”

“ Chasing is the impression of a design on the surface by the use of appropriately shaped punches. Repoussé consists of raising a design, somewhat like bas relief, by hammering from the back or inside of the work. In the second and third techniques the metal is displaced but not removed.
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Shown here are a few of the larger anvils and stakes on which the silversmiths shaped their silver into the finished articles. Since the silversmith had no tool the exact shape of the articles he made, he had to employ many different shaped tools in the process of manufacture. ”

“ In essence, thus, there are only three techniques of forming silver into an article of desired shape: casting the molten metal in a properly shaped mold; hammering an ingot into the shape desired; and building the desired shape from smaller pieces soldered together. Wire produced on the drawing bench might be one of these smaller elements. Filing is considered to be a finishing rather than a forming process.
These forming and working processes, as they would have been used by an eighteenth-century silversmith, will be described in more detail in a moment. ”

“ American silver, dispensing with the heavy ornamentation for ornament’s sake that often characterized the work of London silversmiths, tended to be substantial, serviceable, and vigorous in form, befitting the environment in which it was to be used. ”

“ The spout of the potter always presented greater difficulties in technique than did the spout of the silversmith. In early types of porcelain it is in form similar to the two silver examples of teapot and tea-kettle of 1745 and 1746. But the potter could not attain to the flutings and chased ornament of{249} the worker in metal. The silversmith’s spout soldered on the body, has spreading ornament eminently suitable to afford strength at the juncture. ”

“ The qualities of the silver employed by the English silversmiths are invariably below the standard, the duties, assay charges, and loss of time in sending the work to the Hall to be marked acting as a great drawback to the trade in the midst of the keen competition of the present day. ”

“ But, however beautiful the silver of our forbears and however valuable now, from a historic standpoint, there are few of us who, if given the choice, would not decide in favor of the product of the twentieth century silversmith, who brings to his creations all of the good of the old masters, and who has the facilities for turning out work more perfect in line and detail and uniformity than was ever dreamed of by the silver worker of old. ”

“ He was not alone in his efforts; but there are not many such as he—still fewer who regarded their art as a noble and inspired thing. He despised the showy and pretentious products of the shops which in these days suffer so greatly from the paralysing conditions of the ordinary silversmith's workshop and from the fatal repression of the trade union— which are stamped by machinery, cast by the score, reproduced to order by electrotype, without more pride taken in the manufacture of them than attends the production of an American desk. ”

“ In Germany there are four silver standards—one for the coinage, and three to be employed in the manufacture of silversmiths' wares; and in that country the various standards are severally applied in the production of fine filigree and other artistic work. ”

“ In addition, the young apprentice serves as errand boy, delivering finished goods, collecting bills, and carrying supplies. He also brings cakes and ale for the daily interlude that corresponded to the coffee break of today.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES OF THE COLONIAL SILVERSMITH
From the founding of Jamestown to the time of the Revolution some 300 silversmiths practiced in the three cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia alone. Another 200 worked in the smaller centers of New England and the middle colonies and in such southern places as Charleston, Annapolis, and Williamsburg. ”

“ When, however, these alloys are employed by the regular silversmith, care should be taken not to get the scraps of metal in any way mixed with those of the better material, otherwise difficulties will soon begin to present themselves, which will materially interfere with the regular and proper working of the best silver alloys ”

“ For it should be borne in mind that silver, like gold, begins to lose, in one way or another, every time it is touched; therefore, carefulness and economy will be the characteristics of our teaching, so far as regards the present subject.
The vast majority of working silversmiths know very little of the physical and chemical properties of the metal they employ, and still less of the comparison it bears with other metals in the field of science ”

“ The electro-plate manufacturer, and the dealer in his wares, ought in all common fairness to the trade, to be put upon the same footing as the silversmith, if this licence is to be still continued. In electro-plating establishments, thousands of ounces of silver are being annually used on the surface of such wares as are manufactured there ”

“ His pieces are not the mere vessels of silver that are annually set before the public of to-day, but works of art which in their beauty of design and handling repay the torment and the love of the craftsman. ”

“ Fine silver enters freely into combination with nearly all the useful metals, but its most important alloys are those prepared from copper, the latter substance being more suitable for the production of silversmith’s work than any other ”

“ The little silver vessels, covered with filigree work, used to hold the black paint with which the women accentuate their eyebrows, and the henna for staining their fingers, always appeal to me. One silversmith has a box full of every kind of second-hand ornament. ”

“ The technical word “hall-mark” has become a common term in the language synonymous with genuineness. The strictest supervision, under the parental eye of the law, has upheld the dignity of the silversmiths guarantees. Hence the pride of possession of old silver. Pictures and furniture and engravings whose ancestry is doubtful thrust themselves in the market{12} without fear of the watchful official eye. But old silver bearing the hall-marks of ancient and honourable guilds of silversmiths, stamped at the accredited assay offices, is, with few exceptions, what it purports to be. ”

“ The silversmith often used small anvils, stakes, and dies. Figure 13, for instance, is a spoon mold used to make the final shape of the spoon. Figures 16, 18, 20, and 22 are button punches used to impress a design on smaller pieces. ”

“ Navaho Silverware. Of equal interest is the making of silverware by the Navaho peshlikai, or silversmith, whose primitive forge is in the first room entered at the Hopi House.
Fondness for Silver. The innate desire of a primitive people for personal adornment early led the pueblo Indians to a use of metal. When the Spaniards and Mexicans came among them, the iron, brass and copper of the conquerors were soon added to the dried seeds, shell beads, pieces of turquoise and coral they had hitherto used. But silver has ever been their favorite metallic ornament. ”

“ There is a silversmith here, who, like the rest of the miserable inhabitants, having nothing to do, discovered that he could make gold rings. Of course every person must have a specimen of his workmanship, and the next thing was to raffle it off, the winner generally repeating the operation. ”

“ The heavy ornament of lion’s head and handles, the massive gadrooned edge of the scalloped design, the bowl deeply fluted, the embossed medallion with coat of arms, and the foot enriched with beaded ornament, all indicate that such specimens were regarded as the Standing Cup, so to speak, of the period.
With the punch-bowl an end practically is made of silver vessels for drinking. The sovereignty of glass was now established. Porcelain and even earthenware had made inroads into the silversmith’s domain. The age of modernity was at hand. ”

“ The most common subjects of manufacture by the silversmith are cups, goblets, chalices, tankards, spoons, knives, forks, waiters, bread-trays, tea-pots, coffee-pots, cream-pots, sugar-bowls, sugar-tongs, and pencil-cases. Many of these articles he sometimes makes of gold; this is especially the case in Europe, and some parts of Asia. In the United States, the people are commonly satisfied with the less expensive metal. ”

“ This kind of pleasure soon led to an increase in the work of the silversmith, in consequence of the demand for racing cups, which gave opportunities for the artistic excellence of design in their manufacture ”

“ The Continental silversmiths, especially the French workmen, exhibit much ingenuity, original thought, and refined taste, in the execution of their work; and the natural capacity for design which they possess enables them to produce articles of a very high order and artistic character. ”

“ Of course no waitress and no single-handed butler can keep silver the way it is kept in such houses as the Worldlys', nor is such perfection expected. The silver polishing of perfection in huge houses is done by such an expert that no one can tell whether a fork has that moment been sent from the silversmiths or not. It is not merely polished until it is bright, but burnished so that it is new! Every piece of silver in certain of the great establishments, or in smaller ones that are run like a great one, is never picked up by a servant except with a rouged chamois. ”

“ The contemporary silversmiths at the Geddy Shop and the Golden Ball do not make mourning rings—there is not much call for them these days. They do, however, make and sell a number of other articles of silver of true eighteenth-century design. For obvious reasons their supply of raw material comes from commercial refineries rather than from melted coins or plate. But they cast the silver, forge it, raise, seam, and solder it, and decorate the finished products just as did their predecessors. ”