Important Silversmiths - The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co
In 1880 William Gibson and John Lawrence Langman acquired premises at 112, Regent Street, London and founded The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company. The firm produced a wide range of items from solid silver tableware and cutlery, jewellery and watches to electroplaters, trophies and surgical instruments. In 1898 the expanded and well-known firm became a limited company and added "Ltd" to its name.
The abundant advertising activity of The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. Ltd left numerous illustrations of their products. The company also became a distinguished dealer in diamonds and precious stones and a popular retailer of items by other silversmiths such as Harrison Brothers & Howson, William Comyns, Martin Hall & Co Ltd, W&G Sissons, among others.
The company's artworks received acclaim at a number of international exhibitions from the 1880s through to the early 1900s. Thus the magnificent Rococo silver tea and coffee set, excellent diamond jewellery and Art Nouveau silver toilet set truly impressed the observer at the Paris Exhibition in 1900:
"The exhibit by the Goldsmiths’ and Silversmiths’ Company is of enormous intrinsic value. Its artistic value is great. Given these two attributes, and it is not surprising that the display interests vast numbers of people every day at the Exhibition. The Company fully deserves the success it has achieved"
(The Paris Exhibition, 1900. The Art Journal, London, 1901, p.188)
In 1952 Garrard Co merged with The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. Ltd and took over their premises in Regent Street.
