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Flatters and stampers: secrets of the 18th Century London silver trade
On November 19th, 2009 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
a George III silver teapot, maker’s mark of Hester Bateman, London, 1783,
assembled in the manner of a kit from sheet silver, with applied mechanically milled beaded borders,
sold at Christie’s, London, 7 March 1990, lot 130
(photo: courtesy of Christie’s, London)
When in 1959 David S. Shure published his monograph on Hester Bateman, its subtitle was Queen of English Silversmiths. The author gave the impression of a craftswoman adept at all the skills of a working silversmith. Indeed, one of his readers was afterwards very shocked to be told that Mrs Bateman may never actually have worked at the bench. It was her sons, Peter (1740-1825) and Jonathan (1747-1791), both trained silversmiths, who seem to have run the business. Under them Bateman’s became one of London’s busiest silver workshops. In addition to making a wide range of domestic and decorative items, they were also silver flatters: suppliers of sheet silver for use by other workshops. By 1802 their old horse-powered flatting mill had been replaced by a steam engine.
Behind latter-day myths spun around 18th Century London silver trade characters like Hester Bateman lies the reality of a highly competitive industry, ready to embrace new ideas and techniques. The notion that silversmiths invariably prepared their own sheet metal preparatory to raising hollowware, for instance, is dispelled when we find that there were several specialist silver flatters working from the 1730s and ’40s.
Other mechanical aids were also evident at this time, like the Clerkenwell stamping press advertised in 1765, ‘Where all Sorts of Toys and Trinkets are made in Gold, Silver, and Metal Gilt.’ And when Ebenezer Coker, the salver maker, announced his retirement (1774), he offered for sale ‘a large Collection of Metal Stamps for Waiters.’
detail of the back of a silver tablespoon bowl, die-stamped with a galleon,
maker’s mark of (?) William Cripps, London, 1758, sold at Bonhams, London, 24 Mar 2005, lot 191
(photo: courtesy of Bonhams, London)
- Several items from Ebenezer Coker‘s workshop are currently featured on myfamilysilver.com, as are various items from the Bateman factory.
Gilbert Marks: an exceptional Arts & Crafts talent
On November 12th, 2009 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
a silver dish with a chased chrysanthemum design by Gilbert Marks
(The Studio, London, September, 1895, p.220)
Forty years ago the ‘big three’ among English silversmiths were still considered to be the two Pauls (de Lamerie and Storr) and Hester Bateman. They were also the first to have books written about them, probably because so much from their workshops had survived: de Lamerie in 1935, Storr in 1954 and Bateman in 1959. Of more recent silversmiths almost nothing was heard, except, perhaps, for Omar Ramsden whose work was celebrated by a centenary exhibition in Birmingham in 1973.
Since then, however, determined efforts have been made by many researchers to broaden our view of the British silver industry. The result has been to add further fascinating details to what was already known about de Lamerie, Bateman, Storr and Ramsden and their respective worlds, as well as to pull from relative obscurity the work of dozens more excellent firms and gifted individuals.
Gilbert Leigh Marks (1861-1905) is one independent silversmith, who in a career of only about ten years, managed to produce a body of finely made objects of lasting beauty. Early admirers warmed to his style; The Art Journal (1897), for instance, noticed the finish of his bowls, vases and beakers: ‘the dull yet exquisite grey of unpolished silver.’ The Studio (1895), agreed, adding that his pieces were ‘not over-ornamented, pleasant plain spaces being left which served to accentuate the beauty of the designs.’
Marks’s patterns were from nature: chased flowers, leaves and fruit against softly patinated surfaces, with occasional observations of fish leaping through water.
a silver bowl, chased with a design of salmon leaping through water, signed ‘Gilbert Marks 1898,’ an inscription on the interior records that it was given as a Cowes Regatta prize that year by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales; it realised £51,600, including premium, when sold at Bonhams, London, in July 2008
(photo: courtesy of Bonhams, London)
- Various items of interest are currently listed on myfamilysilver.com, including a Newcastle Guild of Handicrafts silver jardinière in the Arts & Crafts style, hallmarked, Birmingham, 1906.
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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