J Dixon & Sons

(active 1806 – 1976)

J Dixon & Sons, or James Dixon & Sons, was one of the most renowned British manufacturers producing silver pieces. Established in 1806, the firm became one of the key companies of the Industrial Revolution. Along with fine silverware, the manufacturer produced items of pewter and electroplated Britannia metal and later on became best-known for its stunning sporting trophies and whistles.

Although J Dixon & Sons was founded in 1806, it was only as early as 1879 that the firm registered its trademark: a trumpet with a banner hanging from it. However, the hallmark had been used by the company long before it was officially registered. Not only were the manufacturer’s artisans endlessly talented, but also highly prolific: among the products by J Dixon & Sons, one could find hundreds of items, from kitchenware, such as bowls, cocktail shakers, and cutting tools, to splendid candlesticks and whistles.

Together with exceptional whistles, one of the most exported items by J Dixon & Sons were sporting trophies. The two most famous trophies are the Hale Trophy, also known as the Blue Riband, which was commissioned in 1932, and the cup for the winner of the American Masters Golf tournament. As for the famous whistles, they appeared in the firm’s catalogues in the late 1870s, but the first models had already been manufactured in the 1840s. Made of such materials as sterling and nickel silver, gun and Britannia metal, ivory and horn, whistles by J Dixon & Sons had a unique feature, mainly fipples, produced from cocoa wood.

J Dixon & Sons is undoubtedly one of the most important British mass market silversmiths and manufacturers. Together with William Comyns & Sons, Asprey & Co, and Barnard & Co, the renowned manufacturer has left an enormously great legacy and had a significant impact on the development of silver making in Great Britain.