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Silversmiths

Inductees are individuals who are recognized for their creative work in silversmithing. Considered to be a luxury trade it involves the manufacture of flatware (forks and spoons); knife handles (hollowware); bowls; tea, coffee and chocolate pots; serving trays; tankards and cups. It includes silversmiths who created prized jewelry, often for Royalty. Silversmiths are also recognized for their work in creating trophies and award items for single and repetitive individual and group achievements.

Atsidi Sani no photo available

Atsidi Sani

Silversmiths
United States
Date of Birth: 1830 — 1918

Sani played an important role in the history of Navajo silversmithing. He is known by many to be the first Navajo silversmith, although his main focus was in blacksmithing; working with iron. Many agree that he learned silversmithing in the year 1853. According to Navajo tribal leader, Chee...

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Tommy Singer no photo available

Tommy Singer

Silversmiths
United States
Date of Birth: 1940 — 2014

Tommy Singer (born 1940; death May 31, 2014) was a Navajo silversmith who specialized in chip-inlay jewelry. He died in a motorcycle accident on May 31, 2014. His inlaid turquoise, coral, and silver pieces incorporated traditional Navajo designs. Singer gained acclaim as the originator of the chip...

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Paul de Lamerie no photo available

Paul de Lamerie

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1688 — 1751

Paul de Lamerie (9 April 1688 – 1 August 1751) was a London-based silversmith. The Victoria and Albert Museum describes him as the "greatest silversmith working in England in the 18th century". Though his mark raises the market value of silver, his output was large and not all his pieces are...

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David Austin Sayre no photo available

David Austin Sayre

Silversmiths
United States
Date of Birth: 1793 — 1870

David Austin Sayre (March 12, 1793 - September, 1870) was a prominent silversmith, banker and educator. Sayre is best remembered as founder of Sayre Female Institute.

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George Guess, aka Sequoyah no photo available

George Guess, aka Sequoyah

Silversmiths
United States
Date of Birth: 1767 — 1843

Sequoyah (Ssiquoya, as he signed his name, or Se-quo-ya, as is often spelled in Cherokee; named in English George Gist or George Guess) (c.1770-1843), was an American and Cherokee polymath. In 1821 he completed his independent creation of a Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in...

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Mario Buccellati no photo available

Mario Buccellati

Silversmiths
Italy
Date of Birth: 1891 — 1965

Founded in 1919 when Mario Buccellati took over Milan's Beltrami & Beltrami, Buccellati is known for its richly textured pieces that are influenced by Renaissance motifs and nature. He was the first famous for the technique of texture-engraving where pieces look like silk, damask, tulle, lace,...

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Jean Baptiste Claude Odiot no photo available

Jean Baptiste Claude Odiot
House of Odiot

Silversmiths
France
Date of Birth: 1763 — 1850

The House of Odiot was founded in 1690 by Jean-Baptiste Gaspard Odiot but rose to prominence under Jean-Baptiste Claude, Gaspard's grandson. Jean-Baptiste Claude was influenced by classical Greek and Egyptian motifs as expressed in the Directoire and Empire styles.

Odiot purchased many of Henry...

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Jean Puiforcat no photo available

Jean Puiforcat

Silversmiths
France
Date of Birth: 1897 — 1945

Founded in Paris in 1820 by Louis-Victor and Emile Puiforcat and their cousin, Puiforcat rose to fame as one of the great French silversmiths. The Puiforcat collection features outstanding designs ranging from classical through Art Deco to modern design. Many of the works were recreated from...

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Paul Storr no photo available

Paul Storr
HUNT & ROSKELL

Silversmiths
United Kingdom

A manufacturing firm, retail jewellers and silversmiths founded by Paul Storr in 1819 as Storr & Co. John Samuel Hunt, who had assisted Storr from the start, continued as a partner until his death in 1865 when he was succeeded by his son, John Hunt. Robert Roskell joined in 1844 and remained in...

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Jonathan Mappin no photo available

Jonathan Mappin
Mappin & Webb

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1775

In 1775, teenager Jonathan Mappin started a small cutlery workshop in Sheffield. Within a year the first Mappin hallmark was recorded at the assay office. But it was under his four great-grandsons who incorporated the business as Mappin Brothers Ltd in the middle of the 19th century. In 1963...

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Robert Hennel, & Sons no photo available

Robert Hennel, & Sons

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1800

Hennell of Bond Street is one of London's oldest silversmiths and jewellers. It was founded by David Hennell and originally made fashionable silverware for the nobility and landed gentry. David's son, Robert I, is known for his fine neoclassical silver, often with bright-cut engraving. His son,...

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George Wickes no photo available

George Wickes
Garrard & Co.

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1735

Originally founded in 1735 by royal silversmith George Wickes, the firm was eventually taken over by Robert Garrard in partnership with John Wakelin in 1792. Garrard had many aristocratic patrons and was represented at numerous international exhibitions including the Great Exhibition of 1851....

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George & Henry Richards no photo available

George & Henry Richards
Elkington Kingston & Co.

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1830

Brothers George Richards and Henry started G. R. Elkington & Co in the 1830s. The firm then operated independently as Elkington & Co. for over 100 years. In 1840 Elkington & Co. patented the electrolytic process for silver plating that is still in use today and they expanded at an incredible...

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William Chawner no photo available

William Chawner

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1797 — 1834

Flatware-making is one of the sub-specialties of silversmithing. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the vast majority of spoons and forks were made by specialist 'spoon makers' (knives were made by an entirely different tradesman called a cutler). The Chawner family was one of England's dominant...

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Hester Bateman no photo available

Hester Bateman

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1708 — 1794

The most famous woman silversmith, Bateman was the widow of John Bateman. After his death in 1760, she took over his London-based metalwork business and transformed it into one of the most successful and prolific silversmithing workshops in London. Hester and her sons were known for their...

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George Adams no photo available

George Adams

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1840 — 1883

William Chawner II's son-in-law who took over Chawner & Co. with his mother-in-law Mary Chawner. He took over the firm and registered his first mark in 1840. He was an exhibitor at the 1851 Great Exhibition and the company became one of the largest producers of quality silver flatware in...

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Charles Tiffany no photo available

Charles Tiffany
Tiffany & Co.

Silversmiths
United States
Date of Birth: 1837

America's most famous silversmith from the mid 19th to early 20th century. The company began in 1837 when Charles Lewis Tiffany and John Young opened Tiffany & Young. In 1851, Tiffany became the first American firm to introduce the .925 English Sterling Standard in American-made silver. The name...

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Carl Poul Peterson no photo available

Carl Poul Peterson

Silversmiths
Canada
Date of Birth: 1895 — 1977

According to his family history, Carl Poul Petersen apprenticed at Georg Jensen in Denmark before emigrating to Canada in 1929. He worked at Henry Birks and Sons in Montreal but he also set up a studio for commission work in the late thirties. Petersen left Birks and opened his permanent studio...

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Jabez Gorham no photo available

Jabez Gorham
Gorham Manufacturing Company

Silversmiths
United States
Date of Birth: 1831

Established in 1831 in Rhode Island, as a coin-silver flatware and jewelery manufacturer, Gorham eventually became one of the largest silversmiths in the world. By the late 1860s, they grossed $1 million in sales per year. Gorham was tremendously successful with flatware patterns like Chantilly,...

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Henry Birk, & Sons no photo available

Henry Birk, & Sons

Silversmiths
Canada
Date of Birth: 1879

Birks was by far the largest and most influential Canadian silversmith in the 20th century. Henry Birks & Company was established in Montreal in 1879 as a retail jeweler. It became Henry Birks & Sons in 1893 when his three sons joined the business. In 1897 Birks bought out Hendery & Leslie,...

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Charles Christofle no photo available

Charles Christofle

Silversmiths
France
Date of Birth: 1805 — 1863

Charles Christofle founded the company that bears his name in 1830. Originally a jeweler, he bought the patents silver plating and electrolytic gilding of gold in 1842. As a goldsmith, he transformed ceremonial items and everyday objects: from jewelry to cutlery, gold smithery to sculptures, and...

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Jean Puiforcat no photo available

Jean Puiforcat

Silversmiths
France
Date of Birth: 1897 — 1945

Jean Puiforcat served in WW1. After the war, he apprenticed as a silversmith and a designer. He lived in Paris. He designed in the art deco style. His silver work had smooth surfaces and was based on the geometric series. Ivory, onyx, lapis lazuli and rosewood were used to decorate pieces. He...

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Georg Jensen no photo available

Georg Jensen

Silversmiths
Denmark
Date of Birth: 1866 — 1935

Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife grinder in the town of Raadvad just to the north of Copenhagen. Jensen began his training in goldsmithing at the age of 14 in Copenhagen. His apprenticeship with the firm Guldsmed Andersen, ended in 1884, and this freed Georg to follow his artistic...

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Paul Storr no photo available

Paul Storr

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1770 — 1844

Paul Storr was England's most celebrated silversmith during the first half of the nineteenth century. His pieces historically, and currently, adorn royal palaces and the finest stately homes throughout Europe and the world. Storr's reputation rests on his mastery of the grandiose neo-Classical...

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Nathaniel Mills no photo available

Nathaniel Mills

Silversmiths
United Kingdom
Date of Birth: 1784 — 1843

Nathaniel Mills & Sons were 19th century Birmingham silversmiths who excelled in making silver boxes, snuff boxes and visiting card cases. Nathaniel Mills, the Elder, was a partner in Mills & Langston, Northwood Jewelers when he registered his first mark in 1803. In 1825, he registered his...

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Paul Revere photo

Paul Revere

Silversmiths
United States
Date of Birth: 1735 — 1818

Paul Revere (December 21, 1734 – May 10, 1818]) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and Patriot in the American Revolution. He is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April, 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of...

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