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Great Silver Manufactory: Matthew Boulton and the Birmingham Silversmiths, 1760-90

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Although we practice traditional silversmithing skills, we use them to produce modern, contemporary sterling silver giftware. Our craftsmen with years of experience and skills handcraft all of our English sterling silver gifts. The Arts and Crafts movement owes its origin directly to the work of William Morris and John Ruskin. In 1880,William Morris, who was then president of the Birmingham Society of Arts and the School of Design gave a lecture at Birmingham Town Hall entitled‘Labour and Pleasure versus Labour and Sorrow’. Morris held that the increasing division of labour under industrialisation was eroding the traditional skills that craftsmen possessed, and he advocated a return to older, more traditional ways of working. In its own way, the toy trade in Birmingham was responsible for the early career of Matthew Boulton, and therefore, for the establishment of the Assay Office. Boulton inherited his father’s toymaking business in Snow Hill, but he was determined to expand his range. A highly ambitious man, by the early 1760s he had started work on the Soho Manufactory, located just outside Birmingham, at Handsworth. The Curator at AssayOffice Birmingham will give a talk on the organisationand its history and hallmarking The company itself is a long established family owned business based in Birmingham, England - among some of the country's most talented silversmiths and jewellers. Our experience in the manufacture and retail of silver stretches over 40 years

Box, card case, cigarette case, egg cup, flatware, goblet, mug, pincushion, salt & pepper shakers, tea service, tea strainer, tray, trophy cup Basket, brooch, condiments set, fob medal, frame, goblet, napkin clip, tea service, trophy cup, vase One of a set of teaspoons with all 6 British Assay Office marks - manufactured by Roberts & Belk, SheffieldPresented by the British Jewellers’ Association to commemorate the bicentenary of The Birmingham Assay Office 1773-1973’. John Cyril Taylor & William Charles Taylor trading as John Taylor & Co, silversmiths & medal makers, Ely Place, Charterhouse Street, London EC1 Jones studied at Birmingham School of Art; from 1901 he was working with the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft, and in 1902 he established his own company. It is not only Jones’ designs that place him in the Arts and Crafts tradition, but also the approach he took to his work. From Aug 1834 this mark used by the partnership of Joseph Willmore, John Yapp & John Woodward. Yapp & Woodward registered their "Y&W" mark May1845. The passing of the Assay Office Bill in May 1773 was a triumph for Boulton and for Birmingham, and when the Assay Office opened its doors for business on August 31st 1773, Matthew Boulton and his partner, John Fothergill were its first customers. 19th CENTURY THE GRAND STYLE OF HIGH VICTORIANISM

Box, card case, decanter label, fork, ink stand, knife, lancet case, pepperette, spoon, toddy ladle, vesta box, vinaigrette Charles Thomas & William Samuel Sheldon trading as Sheldon Brothers, manufacturing jewellers, Vyse Street, Birmingham The Silver Collection at Assay Office Birmingham is an historic collection of spectacular objects created by some of Birmingham’s most celebrated Silversmiths including Matthew Boulton, Nathaniel Mills and Elkington & Co. The Silver Collection at Assay Office Birmingham All of our gifts are handmade and hand polished in Sterling Silver and are hallmarked with a set of British Hallmarks at our local Assay Office. All of the gifts offered online are manufactured in our own factory; however, on occasion we source items from other manufacturers that we believe will complement our own ranges. Our rigorous belief in the traditional skills of silversmithing ensures that each gift leaves our workshop with the same great attention to detail. During the mid 18th Century the Birmingham metal trades flourished, producing large volumes of small personal items known as “toys”. Sketchley’s Directory of 1767 described the output of the Birmingham toymakers as follows;A similar mark registered by Joseph Walton, case maker, Dec1874 (top of central part of W level with top of letter)

The need for the hallmark is as strong now as it was in the 18th century since the hallmark protects the public and the jewellery and silversmithing trades. Precious metals are most commonly used as alloys; mixed with base metals, and even an expert cannot tell by looking whether an article contains the declared proportion of precious metal. Zimmermans were placed in voluntary liquidation in 1929, but one of their marks as been seen with date letters to 1940 (Q) From the mid 19th Century, it was design that preoccupied the minds of the Victorian silversmiths. The developments in manufacturing processes brought about by the Industrial Revolution had opened up the possibilities in design, and this culminated in the Great Exhibition of 1851. It is significant that by 1877 the increase in the quantity of silver assayed in Birmingham per annum had necessitated the move to larger premises in Newhall Street. Indeed, this is the period that is dominated by the great silversmiths such as Elkingtons. An identical mark appears in the ChesterCompendium Ridgway, Maurice H. & Priestley, Philip T. - The Compendium of Chester Gold & Silver Marks 1570 to 1962, Antique Collectors' Club, 2004 where it is noted as "Unidentified"N.B. this mark often erroneously attributed to the London company Schaverien & Eastmead. Smith & Ewen identification verified by Birmingham Assay Office. Edward & Joseph William Lingard trading as Lawrence & Lingard, manufacturing silversmiths, Tenby Street North, Birmingham

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