Makers

Makers

The makers whose names change the price, silver first. Each page shows the mark to look for, the years it was used, and what the pieces have been selling for.

Copenhagen · 1904 to date

Georg Jensen

The Danish silversmithy whose Acorn, Cactus, Pyramid and Blossom patterns are the most traded twentieth-century silver at auction. The mark is easy to read, and the date of the mark decides a great deal.
£100 for a single spoon to £3,000 for a full canteen or tea service
Silver ladle by Hester Bateman, London 1780
London · 1761 to 1790

Hester Bateman

The widow who took over her husband's workshop in 1761 and turned it into the most prolific family business in Georgian silver. Her script HB is one of the most recognised marks in the field.
£80 for spoons and tongs to £3,000 for good hollowware
Birmingham and London · 1899 to about 1930 for Cymric silver

Liberty & Co

The Regent Street store's Cymric silver range, largely designed by Archibald Knox and made by W. H. Haseler in Birmingham, is the most collected British Art Nouveau silver.
£300 for a small dish to £10,000 for a Knox-designed piece with enamel
Silver box, English, 1736
Birmingham · 1826 to 1856

Nathaniel Mills

Birmingham's best known maker of small boxes. Mills' castle-top card cases, vinaigrettes and snuff boxes, with their engraved and repoussé views of abbeys and cathedrals, are collected as a field in themselves.
£150 for a plain vinaigrette to £3,000 for a rare castle-top
London · 1898 to 1939

Omar Ramsden

The leading name in English Arts and Crafts silver. Ramsden's hammered surfaces, Tudor roses and Latin inscriptions are instantly recognisable and have risen steadily at auction.
£400 for a spoon to £8,000 for an important bowl or cup
Paul Storr silver hot water jug, London 1807
London · 1792 to 1838

Paul Storr

The most collected English silversmith of the Regency. Storr's grand neoclassical hollowware for Rundell, Bridge and Rundell set the standard for the period, and his mark multiplies a price.
£600 to £25,000 and beyond for important pieces