Tag
silver
The Silver Spoon Stamped Three Times
A George III silver dessert spoon with three sets of marks — Edinburgh assay, maker, and a tiny owner's mark added later — traced from a 1791 Edinburgh silversmith to a Glasgow merchant family and finally to a Glasgow charity shop.
The Jeweller's Loupe and the Restorer's Eye
A ten-times loupe and forty years of looking through one: a Sheffield silversmith on the small lens that has shaped his trade.
A Brass Wire Brush for Delicate Metal: The Quietest Tool on the Bench
On a workbench in Sheffield, a brass-bristled brush the size of a toothbrush sits beside a cup of cold tea. It costs three pounds and does work no other tool can do.
Cleaning Silver Without Abrasion: The Conservator's Method
A Georgian sauceboat in a Hudson kitchen, an aluminum-foil bath, and the slow argument against the pink paste in the cupboard.
Sheffield Silver Hallmarks: The Year Letters, Read Patiently
A page from the Sheffield Assay Office's 1899 ledger sits open on Cyrus Peake's bench, and the small Gothic capital P stamped beside the crown explains, by itself, why a tea caddy turned up in a Stockport house clearance last March.