| The technique of decorating blackened base metals with silver has been practiced in Bidri in central India since the 15th century.
The item is cast in an alloy containing mostly zinc. The pattern is then chiselled out and inlaid with silver. The item is then covered with mud containing chemicals, particularly ammonia, which darken the base alloy but leaves the silver shining. |
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Four marks are usually stamped on silver: the "hall" (or town) mark, the maker’s mark, the "annual" (or date) and the "standard" (or sterling quality) mark.
The most important hall marks are:
| Anchor | Birmingham |
| Britannia | London from1716 to 1719 |
| Castle over a lion (passant) | Norwich |
| Crown | Sheffield |
| Crown upside down | Sheffield between 1815 and 1819 |
| Crowned harp | Dublin |
| Half leopard’s head, half fleur-de-lys | York from 1562 to 1631 |
| Half rose crowned, half fleur-de-lys | York from 1632 to 1698 |
| Cross with five lions | York from 1700 |
| Leopard’s head crowned: | London from 1558 to 1706 and 1719 to 1836 |
| Leopard’s head uncrowned | London from 1836 to present |
| Three separate castle towers | Newcastle |
| Three-towered castle | Edinburgh or Exeter from the 18th century |
| Three wheatsheaves and a sword | Chester |
| Tree fish and bell | Glasgow |
| X (sometimes crowned) | Exeter before the 18th century |
The Danish silversmith Georg Jensen is widely regarded as having produced some of the most outstanding silver works of the 20th century. Jensen was a sculptor who began working in silver in 1904. His minimal use of decoration followed the Scandinavian tradition but was a great contrast to the extravagant decoration of the dominant English styles of the late 19th century.
His most famous works employ grape and magnolia motifs. Many regard Georg Jensen’s cutlery, particularly that employing acorn and art nouveau motifs, as the best ever produced.
Jensen’s work sold well in Denmark from the beginning but his International fame followed the 1915 San Francisco World Fair at which William Randolph Hearst purchased the entire Georg Jensen silver exhibit.
Georg Jensen himself stopped designing silver wares in 1935 but his factory continues to produce high quality pieces which rely on form, rather than decoration, for their appeal.
| The rapid increase in population and wealth during the Australian Gold Rush in the early 1850s created the conditions for the production of the first significant Australian silver pieces. Fashionable jewellers were unable to keep up with the demand pieces with imports from England taking up to a year to reach them.
Silversmith like Ernest Leviny, Christian Ludwig Quist, William Edwards, Julius Schombergk and William Edwards produced pieces inspired by the unique Australian flora and fauna, such as tree ferns, kangaroos and emus. Their most unique contribution was the silver-mounted emu egg. The first of these appeared in about 1857 and by 1860 they were quite common. |
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Very few silver salvers survive from before about 1660. Most early salvers were round, with square ones being produced between about 1720 an d 1740.
Silver trays, essentially salvers with handles, were not produced until late in the 18th century. They were usually oblong or oval. |
| Silver beakers were made in England from the 15th century until late in the 18th century. Silver tumblers are small beakers which were made from about 1660 to the end of the 18th century. These were made by hammering a single sheet of silver, leaving most of the weight in base. If they were knocked over, they would tumble back upright - hence the name.
Silver mugs were made from about 1680. The early mugs were bulbous in shape, like pottery mugs. 17th century mugs were often engraved but 18th century mugs were usually plain. In the 19the century, silver mugs were usually only produced for christening presents and were very ornate. |
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Tea, coffee and chocolate became popular in England in the first half the 18th century. The earliest silver teapots, before about 1730, were pear-shaped. "Bullet-shaped" (almost spherical) teapots were popular from 1730 to about 1750 when the first English porcelain teapots became available. Silver teapots were rarely produced from that date until about 1770, when drum shaped, and later oval, teapots became popular. These remained popular until the 19th century when most teapots were rectangular.
Coffee and chocolate pots are taller than teapots to keep the spout above the sediment. Chocolate pots have have a hinged or detachable cap in the lid for a stirring rod. The earliest coffee and chocolate pots, before about 1730, were tapered cylinders with the handle at the side (rather than opposite the spout). Later in the 18th century, they were made in a more curved "baluster" shape. Around the turn of the 19th century, vase shaped pots were made but most manufacturers soon reverted to the baluster shape. |
| Spoons, knives and forks are known collectively as "flatware". The name comes from the Middle Ages when table implements consisted of knives and spatula-like implements, called presentoirs, used for presenting portions of food to guests. Unlike spoons and forks, both these types of implement actually were flat. ("Cutlery" refers to all types of cutting implements, originally including swords, razors and cutting tools.)
Silver spoons became common in Europe late in the 16th century. Early spoons have fig-shaped bowls. The most common finials (end of the spoon) were apostles or "seals", which at first were hexagonal, then oval and finally round before they died out altogether in the 1660s. From the 1670s, spoons began to be made in different sizes for teaspoons, dessert spoons and table spoons and with long handles for serving spoons. |
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Silver was rare in the Middle Ages in Europe, being restricted mainly to items for Church use. However, the Spanish conquest of South America brought large quantities of silver to Europe from about 1550. Silver coins, spoons and silver-edged wooden drinking vessels quickly became common. By the early 1600s, not only table silver but sliver-mounted furniture and silver lighting fixtures became common. In the 19th century, silver became restricted to use for tableware, including candlesticks and other table decorations.
The Chinese were reluctant to disturb the Earth’s spirits by mining and removing precious metals but used silver and gold when they were available through trade with the West. This occurred during the Tang dynasty and continuously from about 1600. The Chinese used silver for cups, bowls and dishes.
During the English Civil War, huge amounts of silver were melted down for bullion. Moreover, the Puritans melted down a great deal of Church silver because they disapproved of such ostentatious displays. When Charles 11 returned to the throne from exile in France, he brought with him the Baroque taste for luxury and display. The new aristocracy bought so much silverware that there was a serious shortage of bullion for coinage.
| From 1037 to 1194, the Seljuks united Mesopotamia and most of Persia under their rule. During this period, the technique of decorating bronze vessels with inlaid silver or copper, or both, was developed in eastern Persia. From here the technique spread to Mosul (now Al Mawsil in northern Iraq) with which it became particularly associated. |  |
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In the thirteenth century, work of the Mosul type was done in Aleppo and Damascus in Syria. Ewers and other vessels were produced but the most common articles produced were broad based candlesticks for mosques. On the finest items, gold decoration was used rather copper.
From Syria, the technique spread to Egypt and, eventually, throughout Moslem North Africa. |
