|Antiques Digest||Browse Auctions||Appraisal||Antiques And Arts
News||Home| Silver, always a symbol of wealth, was at one time
actually that. Having no banks, the people with extra coins took
them to a silversmith to be turned into useful household
articles. Thus, the money of their day brought not only wealth
but utility and beauty into the home. From a silver coin to a
spoon was a common transposition. Silver followed the changes in
styles and can be found in many pleasing shapes and forms. Early
American silver reflects the lives and times which produced it.
Its simplicity of line and graceful forms exhibit a delightful
charm. Surface decoration was in good taste as well as superb
workmanship. In making hollow ware the metal was rolled into
sheets and beaten with a mallet into the desired shape. The
surface decoration, if any, was then added to the article.
Ornamentation took several forms: engraving, which consisted of
marking with a sharp tool that removed a portion of the surface;
chasing, done with too