During the Victorian era the refined tastes of royalty, nobility and the well heeled expected the finest gold & silversmiths in the United Kingdom to craft superbly ornamented jewellery & silverware. These pieces are so well made and beautiful that they are still highly prized and sought-after in the 21st century. The desire for superbly ornamented pieces expressed itself in the popularity of Cellini & Elizabethan pattern work.
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By the late Victorian era this firm was described as one of the largest watch-key and gold & silver chain makers in the world. At this time it employed as many as 300 highly skilled workers. The company manufactured patented goods for other businesses. For example Birch’s patent watch keys and also other brands of watch keys.
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The trade advertisement above shows that the firm was patenting their inventions from the Victorian era.
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The goldsmith known as Albert Ernest Jenkins is one of our favourite locket makers. His superior quality lockets are among the finest we have seen and yet despite the presence of his finely wrought lockets, he remains a mystery.
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The enchanting illustration above shows the industrious nature of the Pringle family. At first glance we see a double fronted manufacturing premises fitted out with an elegant showroom on the ground floor. The signage reads as follows 42 ROBERT PRINGLE & SONS 40. The impressive facade only gives us a glimpse of the extent of the premises. The next two buildings on the right (numbers 38 and 36 were also owned by the firm.
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Seals have been used since ancient times to seal goods and important communications. Seals were used as early as the seventh millennium B.C. to stamp impressions in clay. In the fourth millennium B.C. carved cylinders that could be rolled over clay were being used in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia included parts of modern day Iran, Syria & Turkey. The cylinder seals were used to create frieze-like designs on clay.
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This post will give you a brief history of how charms have been cherished through the ages and used as powerful talismans. In the middle of the post the various categories of charms are described and illustrated. The last section gives details of how to care for gold and silver charms.
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