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‘The Fairy Summons,’ an early Victorian daydream
On July 21st, 2011 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
Henry Fitz-Cook’s design for ‘The Fairy Summons’
(The Art-Union, London, 1848, p. 218);
a silver-gilt table bell,
C.T. & G. Fox, London, 1871,
probably retailed by Lambert & Co
(Sotheby’s Belgravia, 10 July 1975, lot 225,
photo: courtesy Sotheby’s, London)
‘The Fairy Summons,’ a design for a hand bell by the artist Henry Fitz-Cook (1824?-1898), was first published in 1848 among a group of ‘Original Designs for Manufacturers’ in The Art-Union. The accompanying text explained that the boy whose figure forms the handle had been ‘startled by the noise of the petals against the leaves,’ a conceit which might happily be produced, it said, in a mixture of Parian and metal.
Although no such Parian and metal versions of ‘The Fairy Summons’ appear ever to have been made, the retail goldsmiths Martin, Baskett & Martin of Cheltenham took up the challenge. Their exhibit at the Great Exhibition of 1851 included a ‘Silver toilet bell-handle; design, ”Boy Stopping his ears,”’ to which a contemporary writing in The Crystal Palace and Its Contents (6 December 1851, p. 156) added his own interpretation: ‘Puck shouts lustily, calling the spirits of the air to do his mistress’s bidding.’
Shakespeare’s mischievous sprite was certainly in Fitz-Cook’s mind when he designed ‘The Day Dreamer’ easy chair for the Birmingham papier-mâché manufacturers, Jennens & Bettridge. Instead of shouting or stopping his ears, this Puck, forming part of the chair’s decoration, was discovered ‘lying asleep in a labyrinth of foliage.’
It is a pity that surviving examples of ‘The Fairy Summons’ bell are hard to find. A few from the 1870s and later are known, made by C.T. & G. Fox for the retailers, Lambert & Co of Coventry Street, London.
‘The Day Dreamer’ papier-mâché easy chair,
designed by Henry Fitz-Cook for Jennens & Bettridge,
shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851
(The Crystal Palace and Its Contents, London, 3 January 1852, p. 213)
Fitz-Cook, illustrator of William Cowper’s
The Diverting History of John Gilpin (1868),
was a sometime member of
the Society of Arts, London.
Howell & James supplies the Sultan of Turkey’s gold casket, 1867
On June 23rd, 2011 John Culme wrote on the subject of Blog with John Culme,Uncategorized.
The Sultan of Turkey’s gold casket, presented by
the Corporation of the City of London on 18 July 1867,
‘is a hexagon, supported at the sides by six
carved columns of Oriental character, surmounted
by one large and two small cupolas.
At the top of the central dome are the arms of the City,
enamelled in their proper colours,
with the winged dragon supporters on each side.
The panels are in pierced gold, relieved by a
ground of crimson velvet. The centre panels contain
the arms of the Sultan in green enamel and gold;
the sides, his Majesty’s toura,
or autograph signature, in carved gold.
The casket stands on a plinth of green velvet…’
(The Illustrated London News, London, Saturday, 27 July 1867, p. 102)
His Imperial Majesty Abd’ul Aziz I (1830-1876), was the first Sultan of Turkey to visit Europe. An admirer of Western culture and a reformer in his own country, his tour of 1867 included England, where Queen Victoria made him a Knight of the Garter. A highlight of the Sultan’s stay in London was his procession from Buckingham Palace to the City, when the route was decked with flags and lined throughout with enthusiastic sightseers.
At the Guildhall, where he arrived flanked by a detachment of Royal Horse Guards, Abd’ul Aziz was given a splendid welcome. The Recorder of the City read the address on behalf of the Lord Mayor and other dignitaries, a copy of which was then presented to the Sultan in an enamelled 18ct gold casket. The latter had been specially commissioned from the Lower Regent Street store of Howell & James, a rather surprising choice because most City presentation boxes and caskets were usually furnished by Garrard’s, Hunt & Roskell or J.W. Benson of Ludgate Hill.
Howell & James, established at the beginning of the 19th Century, has been described as a proto department store, in that it had several dedicated areas. By the 1860s it specialized in luxury goods in jewellery, ormolu, silver, cabinet work, fans, clocks and dressing cases.
The actual manufacturers of the Sultan’s crimson velvet-lined gold casket would probably have been a manufacturing jeweller/goldsmith based in the Clerkenwell or Soho areas of London, where the best work of this type was traditionally made.
His Imperial Majesty Abd’ul Aziz I (1830-1876),
Sultan of Turkey (1861-1876)
Some bronzes and imitation bronzes by English silversmiths
On May 19th, 2011 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
an advertisement by Mappin Brothers
of Sheffield, and
220 Regent Street and 66 Cheapside, London,
‘Fine Art Jewellers, Gold and Silversmiths, &c.,’
for their commemorative bust of Queen Victoria
after an original model by Marie Geflowski (1864-1932)
(from The Sketch, London, 13 April 1901, p. i)
It is not generally remembered that a number of 19th/early 20th Century English silversmiths were also makers of statuary and other works in bronze and bronze-finished electrotypes. Elkington & Co of Birmingham devoted considerable energy to this department, their bronzed electrotypes being a feature at several exhibitions. At New York in 1853, for instance, they showed busts of Homer, Sophocles and Aristotle and one of the Duke of Wellington after Henry Weigall, as well as a bronzed version of Charles Grant‘s ‘Iliad Salver‘ or sideboard dish.
At the International Exhibition of 1862 Elkington ‘s, in addition to silver and electroplate goods, exhibited full-size bronzed plaster cast figures of nine of the Magna Carta barons, after Westmacott, Thornycroft and others. These matched some of the 18 figures made by the firm in the 1850s for the House of Lords; each was a zinc casting with a chemically tinted and gilt finished electrotyped copper coating.
Further examples of larger work from Elkington’s bronze foundry are the two 8ft high figures representing Agriculture and Commerce after Henry Bursill, made for the Holborn Viaduct, opened by Queen Victoria in November 1869.
On a smaller scale, in 1901 the old firm of Mappin Brothers of Sheffield rushed out a commemorative bronze bust of Queen Victoria, who had died on 22 January. After a model by Marie Geflowski, daughter of the sculptor Edward Geflowski, it found favour with Edward VII who expressed his opinion that it was ‘the best likeness’ of his mother that he remembered.
- See examples of work from Elkington & Co (Ltd) and Mappin Brothers on myfamilysilver.com
‘Will You be My Teddy Bear?’
On April 22nd, 2011 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
Anna Held as she appeared in 1908 for the song
‘Will You be My Teddy Bear?‘
in The Parisian Model,
Broadway Theatre, New York City, and on tour
(photo: unknown, New York, 1908;
John Culme’s Footlight Notes Collection)
In 1896 Anna Held, the fascinating European star of Florenz Ziegfeld junior‘s Follies and other Broadway shows, made a lasting impression upon her first appearance at the Palace Theatre of Varieties, London, by her rendition of the song, ‘Won’t You Come and Play Wiz Me?‘ According to a contemporary, she directed her charms at the orchestra’s double-base, embellishing her performance ‘with a profusion of winks, side-glances, and liftings of the eyebrows, concluding with a merry laugh which proves very infectious.’
Over in New York 12 years later Mlle. Held scored another of more successes by singing ‘Will You be My Teddy Bear?’ Hearts of all ages had already been lost to the teddy bear phenomenon when these cuddly toys burst onto the market in 1903, but when the bewitching Anna led a chorus of dancing teddies onto the stage further life was given to an already popular craze.
By 1909 teddy bears had crossed the Atlantic to become established favourites, nowhere more so than in Great Britain and its Empire. They popped up in pantomimes and on advertisements and soon various manufacturing silversmiths created teddy bear novelties for the holiday season in the form of table bells with teddy handles and teddy bear pepper pots.
In his forthcoming auction, Matthew Barton has an amusing set of four silver teddy bear menu holders which were originally retailed by Barton, Son & Co (no relation) of Bangalore and Ootacamund, southern India. What a delightful Christmas or birthday present they must have made!
a set of four silver teddy bear menu holders,
Levi & Salaman, Birmingham, 1909,
Patent Office Design Registry no. 535527,
retailed by Barton, Son & Co, Bangalore,
to be sold by Matthew Barton Ltd, 24 May 2011
(photo: Matthew Barton Ltd, London)
For more silver menu holders on myfamilysilver.com, click here
Storr & Mortimer’s New York City branch
On March 23rd, 2011 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
a silver coffee pot and tea kettle on lampstand,
shown by Hunt & Roskell,
successors to Mortimer & Hunt (late Storr & Mortimer)
at the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, New York City, 1853,
where the firm’s exhibit was under the superintendence of
Charles Mogridge, one of Paul Storr’s former apprentices
(B. Silliman jr and C.R. Goodrich, editors,
The World of Science, Art, and Industry Illustrated
from Examples in the New-York Exhibition, 1853-54,
New York, 1854, pp.127/8)
Garrard’s, Hunt & Roskell, Joseph Angell and the relative newcomer, Elkington, Mason & Co of Birmingham, were the only English manufacturing and retail silversmiths of note to have have been represented at the New York Exhibition of 1853. Their stands were furnished with many of the objects they had shown two years earlier at the Great Exhibition in London. Thus Angell’s silver group, ‘Sir Roger de Coverley and the Gipsies‘ made its reappearance, as did Elkington’s silver electrotype race prize, ‘The Iliad Salver,’ another of which recently had been presented at a banquet by the working men of Birmingham to Charles Dickens.
It is not generally known, however, that of these important representatives of the English goldsmiths’ trade, only Hunt & Roskell had been in America before, albeit under its former name of Storr & Mortimer. This is a mysterious episode in the firm’s history. The senior partner, Paul Storr (1771-1844) had retired at the end of December 1838, when the remaining partners, John Mortimer (d.1871) and John Samuel Hunt (d.1865), continued trading as Mortimer & Hunt. During 1839 a branch establishment was opened under the old name of Storr & Mortimer at 20 Warren Street, New York City, which in the Spring of 1840 removed to 356 Broadway.
Unfortunately, the firm’s New York venture foundered and closed about the end of 1841. The cause is not precisely known but probably happened because of a muddle over United States’ import duty, which resulted in the partners being taken to court.
an advertisement for the New York City
branch of Storr & Mortimer
(Bentley’s Miscellany, New York, January 1841)
Maharajah Duleep Singh’s magnificent silver centrepiece
On February 20th, 2011 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
the large (now presumed lost) silver centrepiece made by
R. & S. Garrard & Co
for Maharajah Duleep Singh’s dining table,
shown at the International Exhibition of 1862.
‘It has been designed to record an interesting
incident in the history of his Highness’ father…
The Maharajah, riding on an elephant, is in the act
of rising from his hondah to receive from his
Turcoman attendant a horse, the possession
of which he has coveted.’
(The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the
International Exhibition, London, 1862, p. 66)
‘Those eyes and those teeth are too beautiful,’ gushed Queen Victoria after meeting Duleep Singh (1838-1893), last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire. He had ascended the throne at 5, his father, Maharajah Ranjit Singh having died in 1839. Their Punjab territory was annexed to the British along with personal property, including the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond which, as a spoil of war, was handed to the Queen in 1850. The following year it was shown at the Great Exhibition but failed to impress because of its unsophisticated rose cut. In 1852 the stone was entrusted to the royal jewellers R. & S. Garrard & Co to supervise a re-cutting, emerging as a much smaller but infinitely more brilliant gem. It now forms part of the British Crown Jewels.
Although very young when he first visited London, the splendid, free-spending Duleep Singh soon became well known to the capital’s goldsmiths. In 1863 he commissioned London & Ryder to make a gold and rock crystal bouquet-holder with diamonds, emerald and rubies as a wedding present for Princess Alexandra of Denmark upon her marriage to the future King Edward VII. Two or three years previously he had ordered from Garrard’s a huge dining table centrepiece in silver weighing 2,000 ounces, the principal feature of which was the figure of a ceremonial elephant. This astonishing piece was shown by the firm at the International Exhibition of 1862 but was overshadowed on their stand by Queen Victoria’s much-noticed Alhambresque fountain with models of her favourite horses.
The fascination of old trade cards
On January 20th, 2011 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
an engraved trade card for John Houle, working silversmith,
24, Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell,
‘WAITERS of all Sizes ON SHOW AT the lowest Prices
FOR CASH,’ London, circa 1830
(private collection)
Among the most enduring forms of advertising is the humble trade card. In England early examples, which appeared at the close of the 17th Century, were sometimes used for bills, invoices and receipts. They were issued by most trades and professions and inevitably those in the business of luxury goods, selling goldsmiths’ work and jewellery, for instance, were often very rich in their design. Their images and texts have fascinated generations of collectors and scholars for their often unique information. A pioneer enthusiast of printed ephemera was Sarah Sophia Banks (1744-1818), whose collection eventually found its way to the British Museum. Included is a card of about 1760 recording the partnership of James Cox and Edward Grace, purveyors of ‘Curious Works in Gold, Silver, and other Mettals.’
examples of Sheffield plate and cutlery,
a detail from Edward Lamb’s trade card (below)
Sir Ambrose Heal (1872-1959), chairman of Heal & Son, famous for furniture, was another collector of trade cards. His particular focus was on London history, furniture makers and goldsmiths and no doubt was the inspiration for his compilation of a list of silversmiths, jewellers, &c for his still much-quoted, London Goldsmiths, 1200-1800: A Record of the Names and Addresses of the Craftsmen, Their Shop Signs and Trade Cards, first published in 1935.
Heal’s London Goldsmiths reproduces many trade cards from his collection, which was also acquired by the British Museum. Here you will find a mid 18th Century example for John Alderhead of Bishopsgate Street, whose rococo border is inhabited by all sorts of plate, from a tea kettle to a lemon strainer.
an engraved trade card for Edward Lamb,
retail goldsmith, jeweller and watch manufacturer,
43 Ludgate Hill, London,
‘Superior Silver Steel Table & Fancy Cutlery,’
‘Seals Elegantly Engraved,’
circa 1835
(private collection)
Sealed with a loving kiss
On January 15th, 2011 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Latest News,Uncategorized.
Sealing a document or letter with wax may seem rather archaic in the age of email. Yet signet rings – which were developed centuries ago to do just that - are increasingly popular, even warranting a recent feature in the Financial Times as the coming new fashion accessory (see The Signet Ring is Back in Fashion, FT, 24 September 2010). Long associated with the aristocracy, signet rings are now universally enjoyed, and admired, as an elegant and highly personal statement of association with a family or name. Equally enjoyed by men and women, a signet ring, with its seal-engraved family crest of a wythern, cockatrice or unicorn, combines fashion with a little bit of medieval mysticism and romance.  The FT relates the upsurge in interest in signet rings to Tom Ford’s recent movie A Single Man in which a suave and crisply tailored Colin Firth sports a signet ring in a discrete statement of breeding and good taste.
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My Family Silver with its unique online database of crests attached to 47,000 family names was always well-placed to make buying a signet ring a fun and easy experience.  Yet we have been delighted by the overwhelming response to our launching them on the website before Christmas. Although traditionally a signet ring is presented as a “coming of age” gift (once upon a time at the age of 21 but now 18), many of the rings we make for our customers are given to celebrate an engagement or anniversary. There is something intensely personal and intimate about wearing a gold or silver ring beautifully carved with a miniature design associated with the owner, which I think appeals strongly in our era of mass-markets and blandly branded products. Now that family crested cufflinks have joined the range there is still more opportunity to display your family heritage in an elegant manner.  
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Our ancestors understood the language of these heraldic devices when they corresponded. Lovers frequently sealed their letters with a variety of intimate designs to indicate their feelings. For instance, variety of different wax impressions are retained on the love letters of Admiral Lord Nelson and Emma, Lady Hamilton including this beautiful example :
Of course any seal used by Nelson or his mistress – and several survive – would be very sought after by a collector. But several similar eighteenth and nineteenth century hand, desk or fob seals (worn by a gentleman on his waistband) are listed for sale at My Family Silver including a lovely example carved in citrine and set with a ruby and this Regency gold and carved cornelian example:
With so many fascinating antique seals still available, this is a rewarding area for collectors.
How to treat a lady at Christmastime
On December 12th, 2010 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
left to right: three enamelled ‘Merry Christmas’ brooches,
‘specialités for the million,’ manufactured by Booth Brothers, Birmingham
(The Jeweller and Metalworker, London,
14 November and 1 December 1888, pp. 346 and 358);
a silver ring stand and a
‘Solid Silver James I Cream Ewer’ (in the style of George II)
(The Lady’s Realm, London, June 1904, p. 4,
advertised by Oetzmann & Co, house furnishers, London);
and the English actress Eva Moore (1870-1955)
wearing an example of a silver-mounted leather ‘Norwegian belt,’
a popular fashion accessory for ladies and young boys
between the 1860s and the late 1890s, many of the ladies’ versions
of which were fitted with silver chatelaines
(photo: Alfred Ellis, London, circa 1897).
Miss Moore’s boater is adorned with an enamelled (? gold)
yachting brooch of a type sold by Simpson Benzie (1835-1915),
court jeweller and watchmaker of Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Our Victorian and Edwardian ancestresses, or, rather, their menfolk eager to please, drove the English silver and jewellery trades into overdrive during the approach to Christmas. Six and a half day weeks were the norm as orders poured into the workshops of London, Birmingham and Sheffield.
Increased demand for novelties grew, especially after the late 1880s when luxury illustrated magazines began to proliferate. Mappin & Webb and Elkington’s seem to have outstripped their rivals in the advertising of affordable Christmas gifts; the one promoting such trifles as milk churn and Nordenfeldt machine gun shell-shaped pepper pots (1886/87), the other tea sets copied (‘by permission’) from those used in Windsor Castle (1901). The Goldsmiths’ & Silversmiths’ Ltd advertised a ‘Pot-Pourri Box, with Pierced Top – Finished [with a draped nude] in the New Art Style’ (1900). This nod in the direction of Art Nouveau for a while dominated the market in die-stamped goods.
Walter Thornhill’s emporium in New Bond Street was a favourite haunt for gift-hunters and the The Queen magazine was a frequent visitor. In the 1860s and ’70s the firm sold the best chatelaines available, each equipped with a selection of accessories. In 1890 a lady correspondent in Newcastle wrote that she had been given one with ‘a large pencil, a folding pair of scissors, a revolving pincushion, a set of tablets, and a knife.’ Although pleased with the gift, she warmed that such items jingled ‘and that to a nervous person or a sick person is most abhorrent.’
the Belgian-born American showgirl
Camille Clifford (1885-1971)
who became celebrated in London as the
personification of ‘the Gibson Girl‘;
her ensemble includes a fashionable fob watch
and an enamelled (? silver) hat buckle
(photo: Foulsham & Banfield, London, circa 1906).
A hand mirror and two brushes,
silver-gilt and enamelled, from a toilet set
retailed during the mid 1930s by
The Goldsmiths’ & Silversmiths’ Co Ltd of Regent Street, London.
Silver Surfers: My Family Silver in Financial Times’ How To Spend It magazine
On November 29th, 2010 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
I was delighted to see writes founder Martyn Downer the wonderful article on myfamilysilver.com in the Financial Times’ influential luxury magazine How To Spend It  last Saturday. In the three page exclusive feature, journalist Simon de Burton explored the background to the business and how it has revolutionised the ability of buyers to find silver decorated with specific family crests. Cynthia Harris of Sotheby’s Silver Department says the website “has increased immeasurably the likelihood of bringing buyers and objects together”. Read the full article here: how-to-spend-it
John Culme, who for many years has been connected with Sotheby's Silver Department, is author of several books and articles, including The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, 1838-1914, published in 1987, and co-author with Nicholas Rayner of The Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor. He is also a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths' Company, London.
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