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.  

St. Louis Silver Syrup Pitcher

I finally purchased a syrup pitcher. This little beauty, I thought, was from the St. Louis Silver Co. in St. Louis Missouri. It has a nice floral design and an accompanying plate.

This piece is marked

ST. L. C.& S.W. Co. in a circle with St. Louis in the middle. At first I thought it was the St. Louis Silver Company. Turns out it was not. 

St. Louis Silver Co. 
St. Louis Silver Plate Company
St. Louis Missouri


Founder: 
Unknown


Founded:
First appeared in 1893


Was listed as the St. Louis Silver Plate Company in 1905
So they changed names somewhere in there.

Seems to have closed sometime around 1912-1913

Produced:
     Silverware
     Holloware
     Steins

They are famous for their wood and silver steins.
The patent for the steins is from 1904 by Clarence M. Perkins

Marks:

     Seen as L.B. Silverware Co. in a circle.

     Also made a line called SALOSICO WARE

     Also used a clover leaf.


The marks did not "add up" in my mind.
The Initials of the mark even the known mark did not make any sense.  "L.B." , "St. L. C."
What does that C stand for? What does the B stand for?

S.W. could be silverware

There was a company I have very little information on it, called the  St. Louis Clock and Silverware Company


There is even less information about this company.

This is what I have dug up:

St. Louis Clock and Silverware Company
St. Louis Missouri


Founder:
     Otto Pfeffer

Founded:
     1890

Ended:
    To at least 1904

Products:
     Wholesale dealer in clocks
     cut glass
     silverware
     novelties

Mark:
     ST. L. C.& S.W. Co.

Other Notes:
    Participated in the St. Louis "Louisiana Purchase Exhibition" also known as the "St. Louis Worlds Fair" in 1904- They are listed in the catalog.


More Research dug up an old catalog from the St. Louis Clock and Silverware Company. This absolutely confirms that the pitcher is theirs. Right on the cover of their 1904 "Twelfth Annual Catalog" across the front is  "ST. L. C.& S.W. Co." "Wholesale Only" So now I can confirm that they produced this piece or at least sold it. So far as I know no other record of their silver production exist online so this is the first. That makes me excited. And if its not? Hell, I am still excited.

Water Pitcher- Pelton Bros. Silver Plate Co.

I picked up this water pitcher last weekend. An older gentleman I know that sells at the local flea market had pulled it out for me from a box of junk. He even had had his grandson polish it with a cloth to take off most of the tarnish. It was exquisite. At first I thought it was missing its ceramic insert, however, it has an ice shield that swings inward and this tells me that it never had one. The finial on top is easy enough to see in the picture, but around the edge are shields and papyrus with little birds inside the shields. The same design is repeated around the top. The spout has flowers on it and the motif is repeated in the handle.

The mark is terribly hard to read. However after enough staring I figured out it was "made" by the Pelton Bros. Silver Plate Co.

Pelton Bros. Silver Plate Co. was located in St. Louis Missouri and seems to have existed from 1872 to 1900. It was managed for a time by Philip S.Pelton.

Their flatware was marked:
Triple Plate 12
Sectional Plate XII
Standard Plate 4

Their hollowware was marked as a PB in a shield and as a circular cartouche.

I question that this being made by them. There is another set of marks on the bottom of the pitcher that has been over-struck and then plated. A barely visible CT can be seen and I am assuming that the underlying britannia metal was bought from one of the Connecticut manufacturers and then plated by the Pelton Bros. This was a pretty common practice in the Victorian era. In fact this practice was one of the contributing reasons that the International Silver Company formed because some firms found that by uniting they could save money on this trend in the industry. It also explains identical pieces having different manufacturing marks.