An Examination of the Craft of an Earlier Time and its Significance for Our Own

by: D. Albert Soeffing

American Coin Silver Footed Medallion Centerpiece, Attributed To John Wendt

While curiosity in a cat is said to be fatal, curiosity is a useful attribute for a connoisseur or collector of Decorative Arts. It is an admirable quality to recognize an object for its beauty, but the object's value is enhanced and one's appreciation is magnified when knowledge regarding the history, construction and provenance is added to simple admiration.

The Decline and Extinction of Specialized Hand Work:

A memorandum found in the Design Room of the Gorham Company, some years prior to the dismantling of their plant in Providence, spoke of the history of apprenticeship. According to the author, the company had maintained a formal apprenticeship agreement for their youthful employees into the 1870's. It stated that the training of a silversmith was the last occupation to abandon the system. Just as a talented pianist has little chance to play at Carnegie Hall unless his or her musical talents are taught from an early age, certain hand skills for a silversmith are unlikely to fully develop without a mentoring process begun in youth under the watchful eye of a master craftsman. This was particularly true with regard to casting and chasing. As recently as the 1970's, Henry Petzel lamented the lack of qualified individuals remaining who could produce sand castings up to his standards. As for fine repoussè and flat chasing, it is doubtful the world will ever see the level of skill so commonly practiced in America during the Nineteenth Century. For one to own and appreciate what once was manufactured can now only be supplied by the remaining examples.

Although accomplished by the use of machinery, and not regarded as hand work, the use of engine turned patterns for decoration on American flatware and hollow wares deserves comment. This complicated lathe process, with its need for great skill and concentration, is an extension of the hand --- as much as a burin in the hand of the engraver. Engine turning still exists, a dedicated few individuals still practice utilizing the surviving antiquated apparatus. However, it is difficult if not impossible, to find a living artisan able to execute the variety of designs and delicate tracery commonly seen in mid-nineteenth century silver.

Hand engraving, practiced both for ornamental purposes and for personalizing one's possessions, is also scarcely taught or practiced in the present day. To engrave well and artistically is difficult. Taking the example of a monogram; a single simple letter requires a number of cuts. The application of a complicated cypher might require several hours for completion. A lack of skill or a moment of carelessness can ruin or blemish the work in progress. In the twenty-first century a master engraver is not readily found and, when found, his services are not inexpensive. Fine hand engraving should be protected against harsh abrasion. Monograms and inscriptions should be treasured as an art in their own right.

No Historical Period Can Be Left Without Representation:

Five Piece John Wendt Egyptian Revival
Pattern Silver Tea And Coffee Service

When museums and private collectors first embarked on an exploration of American Nineteenth Century silver, a number of curators and collectors admonished that artistic value could not be found in objects of silver produced after 1830. With this peculiar prejudice, and without knowledge or education or interest in the silver of later periods, post 1830 silver was dismissed even though the Americans won European Exhibitions during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The acknowledgment of historical perspective was largely ignored well into the 20th century, seeing truth only in the present. As commonsensical as it might seem, we must look beyond the present to gain a view of the comprehensive whole. No museum or collection can justly illustrate a period in the Decorative Arts without examples to display. Any collector would not be content to appreciate objects of a bygone era merely by reading descriptions of articles once in existence. To hold history in one's hands, feel its weight and examine its fine skill and detail, demands the presence of the thing itself.

Education on the Table and the Sideboard:

The nineteenth century is called the last great age of discovery. The world was exposed to places and times in a way as never before. The introduction of artistic styles of Egyptians, North Africans, Middle Easterns and Asians; consisting in part of Turks, Persians, Indians, Chinese and Japanese, were deemed marvels and translated into Western forms for plagiaristic use in the arts. Exotic elements were subsumed into the furnishings of the affluent and the mainstream, delighting and educating the world.

Some might view these objects for the sole sake of their beauty and craftsmanship; contemporary owners recognize and appreciate silver for its additional qualities. Silver was a symbol of wealth and achievement. Silver was money itself as good as that produced by the United States Mint. Silver was educational for the owner and for the owner's children. One can easily imagine a man with a classical education exposing his children to classical culture through medallion patterns, quizzing them as to the identification of their portraits. Or perhaps the learned parent, if broad minded, might explain the symbolism of the thrysus appearing as ornament on flatware patterns or as ornamental devices on hollowware.

America was excited by Western exploration and discovery of other lands and cultures. America supplied Chinese markets with ice from our lakes in the winter and dug ginseng from our Northeastern forests during other times of the year. Japanese culture and design, in which not only Americans but the whole of the Occidental world took delight, held special significance for our Republic. Was it not an American, Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who pried open the gates of Japan so that the world might inspect and marvel at what lay inside?

A Multitude of Collecting Interests:

Gorham Silver Acid Etched Handled Trophy Cup

The introduction of techniques and new innovative decorative styles in Nineteenth Century American Silver was swift and broad. At that time the American public increasingly demanded novelty and display. Americans were living in the midst of an era of expansion, innovation, invention and discovery. While this may overwhelm collectors, it really should be viewed as an opportunity to indulge one's personal tastes. Collectors do not need to collect in the manner of a museum, taking interest in selecting examples of every variety, but only have to determine his or her preference. It could be an interest in techniques engraving, engine turning, acid etching, enameling. It could be a fascination with styles and design — Empire, Classical, Gothic. One might find delight in non-Western influences Egyptian, Middle Eastern, Indian (both Native and Asian), Oriental. The possibilities are limitless in this fascinating collecting area. It merely depends on what appeals and what is supported by the contents of one's wallet.

The significance of the present auction is that the objects currently accessible may not readily be obtained in the future. Fine silver examples are lost to ignorance or misunderstanding every day. For example, a teapot recently acquired, a masterpiece of American repoussè chasing, was saved from the trash only through the curiosity of a neighbor helping move an elderly friend. Sometimes what ignorance would otherwise discard, sheer luck preserves. Whether American silver of a past century or the remarkable design of our Mexican neighbors to the South, one should take notice. Overall, this viewing is an educational event and an opportunity to indulge in ones passions.