Nathaniel Mills & Sons

(active ca 1825-1953)

The founder of brand name, Nathaniel Mills, the elder registered the maker's mark at the Birmingham Assay Office in 1803 while being a partner in "Mills and Langston, Jewellers Northwood". 

In 1825, he registered his own mark "N.M" within the rectangle and started to produce silverware. He became especially recognizable for his objects of vertu, such as well-constructed silver and gold boxes, card cases, snuff boxes and vinaigrettes.

After Nathaniel Mills I's death, the workshop was inherited by his son Nathaniel Mills II in 1840. He was born in 1811 and completed his apprenticeship at the father's company. As a talented innovator, he implemented several techniques to the production, such as stamping, casting and engine-turning. During his father's lifetime, he significantly increased the business and enlarged the premises. 

Under his guidance, the firm quickly made its reputation as the most prolific and important boxmaker in Birmingham. The workshop was especially celebrated for its "castle-top" boxes. Such boxes were noted for elaborately chased lids depicting castles, cathedrals, abbeys, stately homes and other landmarks of Britain. 

Nathaniel Mills solid silver and gold boxes with strikingly embossed borders and sides are now exhibited at the Royal Collection Trust Museums, the Metropolitan Museum, the Birmingham Assay Office Museum. They are highly sought-after by sophisticated collectors.