Beauty with usefulness was the aim of the Arts and Crafts movement’s followers, and their homes made a striking contrast with the crowded rooms of the same time furnished in mainstream taste. Although seen as progressive in its day, the Arts and Crafts style, developed largely by William Morris, showed a nostalgic yearning for the simple pre-industrial cottage. This living room combines dining and sitting room, echoing cottage life. Progressive people were furnishing their rooms like this as early as the 1870s but, as more designers worked in Arts and Crafts style, similar rooms were more common in the 1880s and 90s, and the momentum continued into Edwardian days. (more…)

Although hand skills continued, science and technology were advancing on all fronts. Pottery and porcelain were soon to prove a field for industrialisation. While British factories could not yet match Meissen and Sevres, attractive and popular pieces were made. Highly decorated soft-paste porcelain figures were still made by Chelsea (for tables, mantelshelves and cabinets), now with coloured and gilded scrolls instead of the earlier mounds forming the base. Tiny figures known as ‘toys’ were made to hold scent, needles and bonbons. Earthenware figures and Toby jugs were made in the Staffordshire potteries to appeal to a mass market. (more…)

Button-making was an important industry in its own right. By the 1770s it is recorded that over 80 master button-makers, producing all types of buttons, were working in Birmingham where button-making had been prolific for over 100 years. Sheffield plate was ideal for this purpose and had been used for button-making since it was discovered by Thomas Boulsover circa 1742. By the 1780s Birmingham button-makers produced large quantities of buttons and included among their numbers Matthew Boulton’s Button Company which was started in 1782. Sheffield plate had gained for itself such a good reputation as a substance for button-making that an Act was passed in 1796 which regulated the quality of metals used for buttons. (more…)

From approximately the earlier years of the 1770s separate parts of a vessel such as spouts or lids were stamped out using a drop-hammer. The piece of Sheffield plate would be placed upon a striking block which had a die sunk with a model of the required shape. Then the hammer, the face of which was raised with the same shape as the sunken die, was manipulated from above by a rope between two vertical rods and, as it struck the block, the Sheffield plate was stamped into shape. The parts would then be soldered to the vessel. The introduction of harder steels made possible more sharply-defined pieces and during the Regency period entire units were produced in this manner. Die-stamping was a very important technique, advances in it contributing greatly to mass-production methods in both silver and Sheffield plate. By the last decade of the eighteenth century larger, flat pieces such as trays were being produced in this manner, suitably ornamented as already described. (more…)

Registration of marks for plated goods virtually ceased after 1836 because the new British plate could not correctly be termed Sheffield plate as silver was not fused onto copper. Yet again manufacturers resorted to marking their wares with unregistered symbols which looked very much like hallmarks. After 1765, and more so following the turn of the nineteenth century, a crown was sometimes used in addition to other marks. This was originally intended to show that the piece was of good quality, and its use grew at the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to differentiate between English plate and cheap wares imported from France. Manufacturers used it increasingly throughout the nineteenth century until the public were in such a state of confusion, since it was also the mark for the Sheffield Assay Office, that its use was eventually prohibited in 1896. (more…)

Sheffield plate has grown considerably in popularity among collectors, and prices can, therefore, be high. Nevertheless, when bought with care it is a good proposition for both its beauty and usually its value as an investment. Although it is plated silver its attraction lies in the softness of its tone and generally the standard of craftsmanship is good, with the exception of certain later types of Sheffield plate and cheap imported plate. Sadly, the man who discovered the technique of Sheffield plate failed to grasp its full potential. Others were quick to do so, however, and for about 100 years between its appearance and its replacement by electro-plate in the following century, an enormous number and variety of wares was produced by this method. (more…)

In the twentieth century it is difficult to imagine eating meals without the aid of cutlery, yet it was not until the eighteenth century that it became the general custom to use forks, knives and spoons. The habit spread only gradually. Towards the later years of the seventeenth century a host might be expected to provide cutlery at table and although this tendency increased, many travellers carried with them their own personal set of a fork, knife and spoon, in a case often made of tooled leather, until as late as around the middle of the eighteenth century. (more…)

At the beginning of Queen Anne’s reign the taking of snuff became popular in England, thought to be as a result of the vast amounts which infiltrated the London market following the capture of Spanish ships carrying snuff in the action of Vigo Bay. It had been introduced to Europe many years before, the Spaniards having first tried it following the discovery by Cortes of Mexicans taking snuff in 1520. The taking of snuff persisted despite two popes issuing bulls against the strange new habit, and, in fact, became exceedingly fashionable during the eighteenth century. It still has a following today. (more…)

Buttons

Buttons were made in various metals including gold, silver, gilt, Sheffield plate, pewter, steel, wire and brass. With the exception of certain metal buttons, they were generally dome-shaped during the first half of the eighteenth century and usually of a medium or small size. Until the days of Elizabeth I, buttons had been ornamental only, since clothes were fastened by aiglets or hooks-and-eyes and various other devices. Nevertheless, buttons were popular even then, as can be seen in contemporary portraits whose subjects are often dressed in costumes liberally decorated by this form of ornament. Very early silver buttons, however, have mostly disappeared over the years. (more…)

After engraving comes etching—or as some people call it, acid engraving. This brings us down to the nineteenth century (we can forget about the early uses of it on the Continent) and all those pleasant festoons of flowers and geometrical designs which the Stourbridge glassmakers devised in the second half of the nineteenth century. These can be very collectable indeed, and at no exorbitant price.

Etching is based on the action of hydrofluoric acid on glass. The piece is first coated with wax, then the design is drawn with a steel-pointed stiletto: the acid eats into the part not covered by wax, and bites in the design. The invention of a machine for automatic etching in 1861 by the famous John Northwood made the process very popular indeed, and although these early designs were at first limited to the still popular “key” and “circle” patterns, they later became very free and ungeometrical. (more…)