The Silver Antiques Insider

The Sacred Silver Collection

Permanent Exhibition
The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, UK

Now that half the menorah is aglow and we’re entering the second week of Advent I’d like to take this moment to praise the Sacred Silver Collection at The Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

The Victoria & Albert Museum is the permanent host to a vast collection of silver finery from all over the globe. The Sacred Silver Collection contains artifacts of Christian and Jewish worship from early medieval times to the present day. Backed by a fascinating history of religion via metalwork, the breath-taking craftsmanship is a must-see for any silver enthusiast, regardless of faith.

Check out The Victoria & Albert Museum online for more information.

A word of caution from one who once got lost within their halls: the V & A can be over-whelming for the uninitiated visitor. This Telegraph article is a little outdated (e.g. the Sacred Silver Collection is now open to the public) but it has more than a few helpful hints to ensure a rewarding visit. Can’t say I agree with their Top 20 list though.

Old-Timey And Eco-Friendly To Boot

Over the last few years there’s been a big push to promote eco-awareness and minimize the impact of this notoriously wasteful season. Last year, Time magazine published Maryanne Murray Buechner’s article on “How to Have a Green Christmas” and now, in her report for The New York Times, Penelope Green has named 2007 “The Year Of Eco Decorating.”

I couldn’t help but notice that fine silver antiques were not mentioned once in either article. While it’s pretty safe to say that sustainability was the last thing on the mind of any turn-of-the-century mine engineer, the silversmiths, to their credit, were committed to producing art with staying power. Their craft champions long-term usability and therefore stands in opposition to the apparent evils of disposable convenience.

So how about a small sample of vintage décor direct from the online catalogue* of Nelson & Nelson Antiques?

First off, for the environmentally aware socialite who has yet to assemble a hoard of holiday ensembles, we offer a large selection of previously enjoyed jewelry and fine accessories.

For the high-minded host we carry a number of antique sterling silver flatware sets and a whole array of serving dishes and decorative objects, including some truly stunning centerpieces.

Better than a tin-can reindeer, n’est-ce pas?

Finally, for those of you looking to make a more literal “green statement” this holiday season, check out our collection of Art Nouveau emerald crystal vases all adorned with delicate sterling silver overlay. These pieces were produced at the turn-of-the-century by various silversmith firms along America’s east coast, most notably those who eventually merged in 1933 to form the Hickok Matthews Company in Newark, New Jersey. Each piece is made of a rich, emerald green crystal and adorned with sterling silver overlay in the Art Nouveau style. Leafy silver tendrils flow across and entwine each glass in a cool, organic pattern.

And there you have it. Why support the high-stakes game of modern manufacturing when you can enjoy a timeless antique whose artistry outshines all the latest fads?

* Please note: most, but not all, of Nelson & Nelson’s inventory can be viewed in the online catalogue. Any interested parties may want to visit the store at its Manhattan location.

Authentication and Appraisal: What You Need To Know

Wednesday, December 5, 2007 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Humanities and Social Sciences Library in New York, NY

Is a “free” appraisal a good appraisal?

How can you be sure you’re getting a fair deal?

You can learn the answers to these questions and more by attending a lecture this Wednesday afternoon at the New York Public Library. Curator Paula Baxter, of the Wallach Art & Architecture Collection, will attempt to demystify the process of appraising and authenticating fine and decorative art objects.

Class will be held at the Celeste Bartos Education Center in the new South Court building. Registration costs nothing and seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. A modicum of computer skills are required but if you’re reading this post I think it’s safe to assume you’ve got what it takes.

Check out the NYPL website for more information.

XRF: Seeing Through The Fakes

I finally got the chance to peruse the Fletcher and Gardiner exhibit at the Met this past Wednesday. I examined each luminiferous piece then read the accompanying placards and, more often than not, just shook my head in wonder. I returned home with one burning question. In this world full of fakes and forgeries, how can the curators be so certain that they’ve got the real thing?

Part of me wanted to believe there was a little, artsy know-it-all lurking somewhere behind a shiny green curtain, an expert who could map the provenance and patina of any piece at a mere glance. If you actually take a peek behind the scenes at a major museum these days you’re bound to find, not the Wizard of Art, but a team of technicians working with high-tech gadgets like the X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectroscope.

Following the accidental discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895, scientists set about mining the ray’s potential to be employed as an analytical tool. Here’s a simplified version of the notion:

If an object is bombarded with a sufficient amount of high-energy x-rays its atoms will enter an unstable condition. In order to regain stability the atoms must produce their own set of secondary x-rays. These are known as fluorescent x-rays.

“Because each element has a unique set of energy levels, each element produces [fluorescent] x-rays at a unique set of energies, allowing one to non-destructively measure the elemental composition of a sample.” (www.amptek.com)

A series of advances eventually led to the development of the first x-ray spectrometer by Friedman and Birks in 1948. After time, and a few adjustments to the original design, XRF Spectroscopy is now the preferred method for non-destructive elemental and chemical analysis of minerals, metals, porcelain, wood, and glass. The method was employed by NASA astronauts to study lunar rock samples on two different Apollo missions. It has also been applied to a number of other scientific fields such as forensics and archaeology, and the study of fine art and antiques.

When it comes to silver antiques, scientists must compare x-ray results to what we know of the silver manufacturing and production techniques of each particular epoch. For example, before purification by electrolysis became popular in the mid-1800s, decorative silver contained traces of gold, lead, and other natural impurities. If an artifact dated prior to that period does not contain traces of other elements it’s liable to be a fake. Such was the case when a large number of forgeries were found in Arthur Lenssen’s collection of antique colonial silver after it was donated to The Winterthur Museum and Country Estate.

As a collector, the ability to confidently assess the authenticity of an artifact is of utmost importance. All of us here at Nelson & Nelson Antiques want you to know when you’ve got the real deal, alas, we cannot all afford to purchase an XRF Spectroscope and hire a team of personal technicians. So, in future articles, we’ll be doling out practical tips and visual cues that the average collector can use to help spot fakes and forgeries with the naked eye.

Stay tuned!

Meet Georg Jensen

Georg Jensen was born in 1866, the seventh child of a knife grinder from Radvaad, Denmark. As a teen he trained to be a goldsmith in Copenhagen, then enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts to study sculpture. Upon graduating he was disgusted by the Industrial Age and its tactics of mass production so he “decided to devote his art to making beautiful objects of practical use.” (jensilver.com) He reapplied his skills to the metalwork trade, this time as a silversmith under Mogens Baillin. Eventually, in 1904, he opened up his own tiny studio in downtown Copenhagen.

With the freedom, at last, to do things his own way, Jensen’s creative aplomb permanently reshaped the language of sterling silver design. His unique products were an almost instant international success. Check out these examples from the online catalogue of Nelson & Nelson Antiques.

“Jensen's sensibility reflected a movement that was going on all around him. In England it was called Arts and Crafts, in France Art Nouveau, in Germany Jugendstil and in Denmark skonvirk.” (ibid)

In other circles, it simply became known as The Georg Jensen Style and its effects are apparent.

Looking back on early 20th Century trends it's as though Jensen arrived from the future to dictate the course of decorative design. He frequently collaborated with other designers, most notably Johan Rohde, and openly encouraged them to express their ideas and challenge the status quo. Soon the business expanded to include outlets in New York, London, Paris, Stockholm, and Berlin.

Although his business suffered throughout the 1920s on account of the economic tensions in war-torn Europe, Georg Jensen’s creations continued to dazzle the art world. He won the Grand Prix at the Paris World's Fair in 1925, then again at the Barcelona World’s Fair in 1929, and then again one final time at the World’s Fair in Brussels shortly before his death in 1935. Today, his spirit lives on in his eponymous company and the artists who continue to use his creative principles.

Silversmiths to the Nation: Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner, 1808–1842

November 20, 2007 – May 4, 2008
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY

The American Wing Galleries are gleaming at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In conjunction with The Winterthur Museum and Country Estate, the Met has put together the very first retrospective devoted entirely to the work of Fletcher and Gardiner, a relatively short-lived but highly significant 19th Century American silversmith firm.

This exhibition features an array of items ranging from the domestic and nondescript to the more outrageous and monumental, such as The Hull Urn. In total, over 100 artifacts are on display.

Visitors are also treated with insights to the silversmith craft and the creative process. A sample of European silver provides some context for these early American works while seven Fletcher and Gardiner pieces are accompanied by original design drawings.

Check out the Met website for more information.

A Different Thanksgiving Classic

In my earliest Thanksgiving memory I’m sitting cross-legged in front of the television while the Dallas Cowboys are playing my boys, the Washington Redskins, in the 1974 Thanksgiving Classic. When Dallas’s starting quarterback, Roger Staubach, left the game due to an injury the ‘Skins were already ahead 16-3 and I thought we had it cinched. I hopped around the room in a celebratory dance then watched in nail-biting horror as Clint Longley, a lithe young rookie, rallied the Cowboys through the second half and eventually won the game with a 50-yard touchdown pass in the final minute.

When dinner was called I dragged my dejected soul to the table. While my family passed the mashed potatoes over and around me I grew mesmerized by the reflective whorls of the flatware pattern and at that very moment, out of heartbreak and spite and the depths of a prepubescent existential crisis, there arose within me a whole new, healthier obsession.

The silverware fad originally came to America by way of the wealthier European colonists. Throughout the 1800s, the discovery of silver lodes and subsequent mining activities in the American West coincided with the foundation of a few highly acclaimed flatware manufacturers on the east coast. By the turn of the 20th century, wealthy Americans, and even some of the middle class, were amassing collections of sterling silverware that rivaled those of their British contemporaries.

Reed & Barton have been producing fine sterling silver artifacts in the city of Taunton, Massachusetts since 1824. In 1906, after three years in development, they introduced their most cherished flatware design, Francis I, showcased here in a prime 18-setting sterling silver flatware service, available only at Nelson & Nelson Antiques. Francis I incorporates a whole cornucopia of leaves and fruit clusters in a lavish, yet commanding design that has graced the tables of three different U.S. Presidents. In its time it set a new standard for craftsmanship and helped carve a name for America in the international silversmith scene.

Francis I flatware by Reed & Barton is my personal Thanksgiving Classic. This Thursday, make sure to set a place for it right alongside Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, The National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation, and, I suppose… the football game.

Enjoy the holiday!

Heads or Tails?

Coin collectors and dealers have joined forces to forge a lawsuit against the State Department that could potentially alter the international trade of fine antiques.

“If the coin collectors prevail, the State Department may be compelled to shed more light on the way it makes decisions on protecting the cultural property of other nations, a process that many art dealers, museum directors and collectors argue has been unnecessarily shrouded in secrecy.”

Read the full article by Jeremy Kahn of The New York Times right here.

Gently, Ever So Gently

With less than a week to go, some of you are probably scrambling to polish your silver in time for your Thanksgiving feast - but don't over do it! If you’re in need of polishing tips and other flatware advice check out this in-depth Do-It-Yourself article and this instructional video.

If you’re still shopping for a flatware service as respectable as your holiday guest list, stay tuned for the next Silver Spotlight article from Nelson & Nelson Antiques.

Kudos To Charles H. Carpenter Jr.

If you enjoyed the previous article and you’d like to learn more about the history of Tiffany & Co. and other American silver manufacturers we highly recommend the work of author Charles H. Carpenter Jr. One particular book, Tiffany Silver, sits in our own library and has been an invaluable resource for us here at Nelson & Nelson Antiques. It’s a thoroughly researched and incredibly detailed history of America’s most renowned silver company that he co-wrote with his wife Mary Grace Carpenter.

To learn more about his life, his work, and his own collection of fine art, check out this sample from Charles H. Carpenter Jr.: The Odyssey of a Collector, an autobiography published by the Carnegie Museum of Art.