Book Review St. Louis Silversmiths

St. Louis Silversmiths is a book I had been looking forward to examining for a few weeks now. Ever since I purchased a Mermond-Jaccard silverplate tea service that I gave as a Christmas present, but for some reason failed to get a picture of. At any rate, Mermond-Jaccard was a major maker and jewelry store in St. Louis. In doing research on them I found this book and ordered it through my ILL account. I did this right before the holiday and have been waiting for it to arrive. Over the holiday I also had the chance to view a few books recently purchased by a friend and fellow collector. One I enjoyed was entitled Silversmiths of Kentucky. I looked forward to a complete and well researched book like this on St. Louis silversmiths. 

I was disappointed. 

While there is nothing particulary wrong with this volume its content and piece list were not the complete  

record of St. Louis Silversmiths I had hoped it would be. While this volume is not as good as other more specialized catalogs I had thought it to be, it is still an interesting if short read.

Made for an exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum in 1980, the first six pages give a broad overview of silversmithing in St. Louis. The remainder of the books 39 pages is an alphabetical list of silversmiths that worked in the St. Louis area. The listings are simple giving a name approximate dates and a verbal description of their marks if they were available. There are also several pictures of silver made in St. Louis from its founding to the modern period.

This book does a good job of listing what it lists but I fear I have been spoiled by online databases of silver information. At a going rate of about $20.00 used I fear there are other books that will be in line before it for the library. However, I am grateful that even in its incomplete form that it is available for consultation.  

Little Bowl from E.G. Webster and Son

I picked up this little guy two weeks ago on Saturday. I it was four dollars. Not to bad for a repousse piece. Really tarnished silver is often priced super low because it seems to be "ruined" and often it is. This piece was ignored by the "pricers" of the estate sale and I benefited.  It was black as night and I finally got polished on Friday. That's right, an exciting Friday night polishing silver. 

this piece was made by E.G. Webster & Son N.Y. and its number is 440. It is pretty small, but the details are amazing.  In between the flowers and the scrolls are textured surfaces that have been chased. The feet are cast and soldered. This according to Hagan is a sign of quality work. I had not noticed it when I picked it up, but in the polishing, the handles are little sea creatures. This does not quite fit with the floral motif that the rest of the decorations reflect but I am a big fan of weird stuff like that. Perhaps, that's why I find colonial styles of silver to be so boring. There is a tiny amount of pitting in the bowl, but it really is so minor that I think for a piece its age it is forgivable. 

So let us consult Rainwater and see if we can find a bit about E.G. Webster. They were formed in Brooklyn New York in 1859. They have had three names:

Webster Mfg. Co. 1859 - 1873

E.G. Webster & Bros. 1873 - 1886

E.G. Webster & Son 1886 - 1928

in 1928 the son ( Fred H. Webster that formed the Son in the mark) sold the business to the International Silver Company. The factories were moved from Brooklyn to Meriden.  Rainwater states that they were well known for their "highly chased holloware and English reproductions". The webster trademark was used until 1961 when it was changed to Webster-Wilcox. This continued until 1981. At this time it was sold to Oneida.