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Elegantly wrought in frosted silver
On October 15th, 2009 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
a Victorian silver table snuff box in the form of a mess tent, Joseph Angell, London, 1850, presented to Major Loftus Francis Jones on his retirement from the 96th Regiment of Foot. The gilt interior of this unique object is engraved with an inscription, recording the fact that Jones (d. 1853) had been with the regiment since its formation in 1824. (photo by courtesy of Sotheby’s, London, 5 March 1970, lot 89)
Recently someone asked me if I had a favourite among the many silversmiths whose work I had examined over the years. My head spun at such a question! Few apart from my colleagues in the field have been so fortunate to handle so much, although even a casual museum visitor cannot fail to acknowledge the glorious legacy we have from silversmiths’ endeavours, past and present.
My answer to that question depends on so many factors, not least the latest fascinating piece I have been researching or cataloguing, in which case Paul de Lamerie springs to mind. Then again, certain silversmiths were specialists, like Thomas Pitts whose workshop was known for its epergnes, or Ebenezer Coker and the Cafes for candlesticks.
Under torture, I might have to admit that a favourite is the Angell family business of silversmiths which flourished in London throughout the 19th Century, particularly that of Joseph Angell (1816-1891) whose stock, some of which was enamelled, attracted so much attention at the Great Exhibition of 1851. An unusual example of the Angells’ silver, a special order, was a table snuff box in the form of a mess tent made for presentation by his brother officers to Major Loftus Francis Jones on his retirement from the 96th Regiment of Foot. Detachments of the latter having been deployed for convict ships heading for the Antipodes, The Courier, a Tasmanian newspaper, reported in February 1851 on Major Jones’s box, telling its readers that it was ‘elegantly wrought in frosted silver.’
- Various snuff boxes are currently listed on myfamilysilver.com, as well as other interesting items from Paul de Lamerie, Ebenezer Coker and William Cafe, and the Angells
A tale of two supper parties
On July 16th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
One day in 1906 a writer for the The Sporting Times strolled into the London shop of The Goldsmiths’ & Silversmiths’ Co Ltd (not to be confused with the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths), to buy some little silver and enamel boxes. These were meant for the guests to a Guy Fawkes supper party he was to host on 5 November at the famous Romano’s restaurant in the Strand.
His purchases secured, he was taken aside by a director of the shop who showed him a special order, recently completed by its Silver Department. It took the form of a miniature silver dining table, its silver ‘table cloth’ being engraved with facsimile signatures of the distinguished cast then playing at the Haymarket Theatre in a revival of F. Anstey‘s successful comedy, The Man from Blankley’s. This intriguing object, exactly the kind of piece at which The Goldsmiths’ & Silversmiths’ Co’s craftsmen excelled, was about to be presented to the author, the table itself being a reference to the play’s climactic supper party scene.
And what of the Guy Fawkes night supper? Fun was had by all, we are told, and the little boxes were greatly appreciated by the lady guests, most of whom were young actresses. One in particular, ‘a dear little soul from La Belle France,’ was the fascinating Gaby Deslys, the soon-to-be grande passion, and recipient of showers of costly jewellery, of Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridge’s department store in Oxford Street, which this year celebrates its centenary.
See here for pieces by The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. currently listed at myfamilysilver.com
The cast of F. Anstey's The Man from Blankley's, revived at the Haymarket Theatre, London, 24 March 1906
Who Do You Think You Are? Live at Olympia.
On March 6th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Latest News.
The dreaded credit crunch doesn’t appear to have reached the family history world.
Last week, I was at Who Do You Think You Are? Live in Olympia to value family heirlooms brought in by the (thousands of) visitors. More used to the scholarly calm of the annual antiques fairs at the same venue, I was staggered by the vast queue stretching around the building before the show opened.
Inside the aisles soon filled up as people crushed around the various stands promoting genealogical resources such as ancestry.com, findmypast.com and the National Archives. The family historians were a pretty ruthless lot (with sharp elbows) as they pressed forward with steely eyed determination onto the besieged experts. Unsurprisingly, most looked retired and of a certain age as it takes time (and money) to pursue such an obsessive hobby. You can of course, never know it all and one small lead can take you in unexpected directions.
The College of Arms was flying the flag for heraldry and I passed a happy few minutes watching an illustrator preparing a coat of arms on their stand. Otherwise, the subject seemed poorly served so I expect a flood of silver surfers when our site goes live in April as people drop in to find their family crest. One visitor who now knows what to look for is actor Kevin Whately who on the latest edition of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? was shown (to his evident surprise) a version of his crest on the tomb of an ancestor. He may not know, however, that the Whately crest, a Stag’s Head, is shared by dozens of other families thus giving Kevin an excellent chance, in time, of finding a nice piece of antique silver with it on at My Family Silver…..
My Family Silver in the press.
On March 3rd, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
Using the My Family Silver Crestfinder.
On January 29th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Out and About.
I’ve now checked out the crests I was shown at The Original Miami Beach Antiques Show using Crestfinder (the magical and unique function on myfamilysilver.com). I’ll start with an armorial I saw on a smart pair of silver tureen covers offered by one of the dealers (as shown here):
As you can see, the crest consists of the upper figure of a woman holding a tower and some sort of plant. A search in crestfinder (which I can do, but you can’t yet…) using the simple terms “woman, castle†turns up a couple of crests including, as you can see, the one (on the left) we were looking at:
This crest, with small variations, is carried by a number of families including Aitkinson and Bailey. However, by checking the motto below the engraved armorial (“Cause caused itâ€) against the results we can (hey presto!) firmly attribute the crest to the Elphinstone family as shown here:
Now the dealer has a whole new way of promoting and adding value to his item (and the Elphinstones can buy back the family silver). Pretty cool, isn’t it?
Soon: Another crest challenge from Miami….
Hello from the Miami Beach Antiques Show!
On January 27th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Out and About.
I’m writing this from the departure lounge at Miami airport after an exhausting but hugely enjoyable couple of days at the Miami Beach Antiques Show introducing My Family Silver to the American trade. It’s hard to describe just how vast this show is so here’s an image..
A thousand dealers from around the world congregate in the cavernous arena, and distracting muzak, of the city’s convention center to furiously trade and barter (most business is done before the event is even open to the public!). As I pounded up and down the aisles I spotted many friends from the London trade who even in these trying times (and with the dollar stuck firmly against them) reported good sales. Elegant and sophisticated it is not – but as a means of doing business it’s second to none.
I met and spoke with about fifty silver dealers from the US representing states across the country and none of whom I’d met before. Without exception, they listened with great interest and patience as I introduced our business. Like the London trade, they instantly saw the huge benefit of being able to identify, and then promote, silver engraved with a family crest. Several challenged me (and crestfinder) to identify the crests on some items on their stands! Unpertubed, I will post my results in a follow up post – illustrated with some photos of the mystery crests, of course.
In fact, in conversation with the dealers, I was struck once again by the wide ranging application of crestfinder. For example, during the show I was shown several pieces of armorial porcelain and glass – the identification of which by family name would add huge value and interest. Most importantly it will give the dealers another valuable route to explore when selling their stock.
OK – there’s my call (BA on time!) so I’m off. More on Miami next time – but with a few more weeks to go before My Family Silver goes live it does feel that it is already international!
A brand new online silver retailer: The story so far.
On January 16th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Latest News.
Building a website of the complexity and brilliance of myfamilysilver.com is quite a challenge, one that we are tackling with both hands to provide you with the best possible experience.
Writing books (my other hobby) seems like a walk in the park compared to collating, digitising and loading the details and crest images of some 40,000 families into the Crestfinder.
Fortunately, those clever web chaps at Datadial have not only achieved the seemingly impossible with their database skills but have also created a thing of great and lasting beauty. Thousands of crests come alive at the touch of a button. I can’t wait to let you loose on it nearer the time.
Even a heraldic amateur (like me) could spend hours of fun on it. Yet still, the benefits to the silver trade will be overwhelming. The icing on this considerably large and tasty cake will be the listing of regimental badges which will allow visitors to search for silver which is engraved with the badge of their old regiment. The interest in military history is huge so we expect this to be a highly popular addition to Crestfinder.
What is Crestfinder?
It’s one of the many innovations coming to myfamilysilver.com. It’s a one of a kind, purpose built database for the speedy identification of family crests by name or blazon! We’ll be talking more about the Crestfinder soon.
In closing, I’d like to pose a question to help us design the uploading of items into the site by our dealers. How many different, legally recognised standards have been used in the production of silver over the years? Obviously Sterling and Brittania in the UK, and 800 standard on the continent. But can you think of any more?
Let’s talk Fairbairn’s.
On January 14th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Fairbairn's.
The burning question you’re probably asking yourself right now is just how are we going to match you to silver engaged with your family crest?
Perseverance and persistence has led us to what we think is the perfect formula. MyFamilySilver.
We have methodically digitised “Fairbairn’s Book of Crests†an incredibly exhaustive resource which for over a hundred years has been the principal source for identifying family crests.
However, as many of you may or may not know, Fairbairns isn’t perfect. There are the odd few gaps and inaccuracies littered throughout. What to do to fill in those gaps?
We are doing just that by cross referencing Fairbairns with our partners at Burke’s Peerage. Meanwhile, the inaccuracies are being corrected by Luke Shrager, a leading authority on heraldry based in London.
Luke also has longstanding connections with the silver trade through his family’s firm Schredds of Portobello.
However, (there always seems to be a however doesn’t there?) The crafty young Mr Fairbairn has given us an even bigger problem.
He allows us to go from name to crest, but not from crest to name. So, given a piece of silver engraved with an unknown crest, we cannot identify the family who once owned it. Until now.
Having loaded Fairbairns text and images into a fantastically elegant database, a short online game of “animal, mineral or vegetable†(remember that?) will, hey presto, identify a crest from an image. All of a sudden and if by magic, all those bits of silver engraved with mysterious crests come alive (and also instantly become more valuable).
Our plan is to make everything you see on site useful and fun for you to use and remember if you have any questions then you can leave a comment or get in touch via email.
What do you think to the Fairbairn’s Book of Crests? Have you read it? Let us know!
Introduction.
On January 9th, 2009 myfamilysilver wrote on the subject of Introduction.
Hello and welcome.
I’m Martyn Downer, founder of My Family Silver.
Thanks for stopping by.
I know how difficult it is to match a piece of silver engraved with a family crest to the right people. I’m regularly told that a big motivation for buying silver engraved with their crest is for posterity and sentimentality. As some 40,000 surnames have a crest attached to them, that’s a lot of people to attach crested silver to!
We also believe the internet is crying out for a single, trusted site for the promotion of antique and modern silver by reputable dealers from around the world (think of it as an alternative to abebooks.com or Amazon for books). After all, like a book, a piece of silver is made of a standard material guaranteed by hallmark The hallmark is a signifier of it’s quality and that you are investing in the real thing. However, Silver is in fact so much more than that! Centuries of history, hundreds of makers and thousands of stories: Sharing these stories with you, our readers, that is the aim of myfamilysilver. What’s more, a lot of silver has a unique, hitherto hidden, value which only the internet can unlock. Join us in our blogging journey.
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Stay with us as there’s a whole host of exciting features coming to myfamilysilver which will be revealed first to you, our readers, on this very blog before launch of the site in June 2009. Let’s not forget that this is also a place for dealers and collectors (like you?) to share ideas and to talk about the fascinating world of silver.A few things that I’d like to talk about for example are fairs and auctions; new discoveries and old friends.
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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