Pushkin’s Blog
Important Silversmiths - Zwilling J. A. Henckels
Zwilling J. A. Henckels AG is a German kitchenware manufacturer, one of the largest and oldest kitchenware brands in the world. Founded in 1731 by Peter Henckels, the company also owns one of the world’s oldest trademarks, that has almost unchanged since it was registered, and that happened as early as in 1731 as well.
Important Silversmiths - Dunhill
Alfred Dunhill Limited, or Dunhill is a British Maison, specializing in luxury goods for men. The brand produces and sells designer and custom menswear, fine leather goods and accessories, such as lighters, pens and watches, as well as perfume. The company was founded in London in 1893 and has always been based there.
Important Silversmiths - Feng Xiang
Feng Xiang was a manufacturing and retail silversmith of Chinese origin, operating in the 19-20th centuries. The company produced export silverware of finest quality, that was in high demand all over the world.
Important Silversmiths - Joseph-Etienne Blerzy
Joseph Etienne Blerzy was a prominent goldsmith of French origin working in Paris in XVIII-XIX centuries. He specialized in ornate snuff boxes made from gold and elaborate enamels. The master was mostly active before 1806 and highly prolific: he is reported to have made approximately 40 boxes, all but one dating to the French Revolution.
Important Silversmiths - Hung Chong & Co
Hung Chong & Co was a prominent Chinese silversmith and retailer, based in Shanghai and operating between 1830 and 1925. The maker is renowned and celebrated for its ultimately elaborated designs and unusual shapes of the pieces. His retail business didn’t specialize only in high quality silver tableware, they also dealt in blackwood furniture of unsurpassed quality and elegant design, as well as exquisite embroideries and splendid silk.
Important Silversmiths - Bautte & Moynier
Jean-François Bautte (1772-1837) and Gabriel Moynier were two prominent goldsmiths of Swiss origin, who worked in partnership, as well as on their own, and crafted incredible objects of vertu, watches and jewellery.
Important Silversmiths - Alexander Macrae
Alexander Macrae was a British silversmith active in the 2nd part of the XIX century, he worked in partnership with other important artisans, as well as on his own, producing a plethora of fine highly decorative items mainly for the British market.
Important Silversmiths - Alphonse Debain
Alphonse Debain was a French silversmith, originating from a family of hereditary silver and gold makers. He produced exquisite tea sets and tableware of the finest quality.
Important Silversmiths - Rudolf Linke
At the end of the 19th century, Rudolf Linke was a respectable silversmith and enameller in Vienna. His workshop specialised in silver tableware, table centrepieces and jewellery, designed mostly in Neo-Renaissance style, also called Historismus.
Important Silversmiths - W&G Sissons
The company began operating as Roberts, Cadman & Co. in 1784, when Samuel Roberts Sr., being the distinguished silversmith himself, decided to build new works for his son at Nº9, Eyre Street in Sheffield. Samuel Roberts Jr. and his partner George Cadman, who had been the apprentice of Roberts Sr., started the production of silver tableware, cutlery and Old Sheffield plate pieces of excellent quality.
Important Silversmiths - Nathaniel Mills & Sons
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".
Important Makers - Tiffany & Co
One of the most iconic jewellery brands, Tiffany & Co's history begins from a small store that was opened on Broadway, New York in 1837. Two school friends Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young started to sell stationery, fancy souvenirs, china and haberdashery. In 1841 the company got a new partner, J.L. Ellis, who suggested selling silverware, jewellery and clocks. The firm changed its name to Tiffany, Young and Ellis.
Important Makers - Cartier
"Jeweller of Kings, King of Jewellers"- these famous words belong to King Edward VII, when he expressed his attitude to Cartier, the extraordinary French jewellery and watches manufacturer.
Important Silversmiths - Miyamoto Shoko
Miyamoto Shoko was one of the most prolific Japanese silversmiths and retailers at the turn of the 20th century. In 1880, the founder of the firm Masaru Miyamoto started his business in Tokyo as the salesman of silver cigarette cases and tobacco to foreigners.
Important Silversmiths - Vasiliy Agafanov
Vasily Agafonov (in Russian Василий Семенович Агафонов) was a prominent silversmith and goldsmith in Moscow. He had a workshop producing silverware, decorative objects and jewellery.
Important Silversmiths - JC Klinkosch
Joseph Carl von Klinkosch was one of the finest Viennese silversmiths of the late 19th century. He apprenticed in his father's workshop between 1825 and 1839 and became a certified silversmith in 1844.
Important Silversmiths - Kwong Hing Loong & Co
Kwong Hing Loong & Co is one of the most remarkable Chinese Export Silver retailers. The firm occupied large premises both in Hong Kong and Singapore, where they manufactured and retailed high-quality silver and gold jewellery, silverware, and watches of all kinds.
Important Silversmiths - Würbel & Czokally
The respectable firm Würbel & Czocally was founded in Vienna by Vincenz Czokally in 1864. Vincenz Czokally specialized in centrepieces, tankards, candelabras, objects of vertu in the late Historicism style. Inspired by the Neo-Baroque motifs, Szokally works were highly appreciated at the Court of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria.
Important Silversmiths - Huang Qiu Ji
Huang Qiu Ji was an important silversmith in Shanghai and Beijing, whose outstanding enamel silver works had left a significant mark in Chinese silver design. According to Chinese Export Silver expert Adrien Von Ferscht, Huang Qiu Ji (original Cantonese name is Wong Kau Gei) is considered to be one of the most favoured Chinese silver marks nowadays (A. Von Ferscht, Chinese Export Silver 1785-1940, 4th edition 2015).
Important Silversmiths - Ivan Saltykov
As is common with the Imperial Russian mid-level workshops not much is known about the silversmith Ivan Saltykov (in Russian Иван Салтыков). Nowadays his high-quality silverworks are much appreciated. His mark is sometimes mistaken for the mark of Ignaty Sazikov.