The Silversmith in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg / An Account of His Life & Times, & of His Craft

Stamping was normally used only in the forming of such small articles as the bowls of teaspoons. In this procedure a piece of silver was forged to the desired thickness and outline, and placed between a hollowed-out lower die and a rounded upper one. When the smith forced the two dies together by a blow of his heaviest hammer, the bowl of the spoon was formed. By filing, planishing, and polishing—and possibly some engraving—the one-piece spoon was quickly finished.

A soup ladle, having a much larger and deeper bowl, would have been formed by the raising process, with the handle made as a separate piece and soldered to the bowl. In fact, only the simplest articles and the smallest ones could be formed by one process alone. The accomplished colonial silversmith had to be able not only to refine and assay his own silver, but to work it up in any combination of techniques that the design made most appropriate.

As an example, the body and spout of a teapot might each have been formed by the seaming process, the base by forging, the top by raising, the finial by casting, and parts of the hinges by drawing. Then all the parts would have been soldered together and the piece planished, polished, and finished off with engraved, chased, or repoussé decoration—or a combination of these. Finally, the smith would have attached a wooden handle, which he might have obtained from a cabinetmaker—or made himself.

Among the silversmith’s final procedures would have been the stamping of his mark, his initials, or his name on the piece. This practice of identifying the maker of an article of gold or silver ware is of long standing, though perhaps not so ancient as the custom by which a painter or sculptor signs his work.

Since the year 1300 the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths of the City of London has been charged by the British government with assaying gold and silver wares and coins, and certifying that the metals are of required fineness. Throughout most of this long period the hallmarking of English silver articles has retained a basic continuity of tradition. Disregarding certain modifications and accretions (some noted in the caption above), every piece of sterling silver made in England since 1544 has borne four marks stamped on the back, bottom, or side.

One is the true hallmark, the symbol of the guildhall where it was assayed. That of the guild of London goldsmiths is the head of a leopard and has been in use for the nearly seven centuries since 1300. Assay offices established later in a few other cities use other symbols.

Another is the maker’s mark, which has been required since 1363. This mark is now always the maker’s initials, but once was more often his trade symbol.

In 1478 a system was adopted of dating each piece assayed by stamping it with one letter of the alphabet. For this purpose a twenty-letter alphabet is used, the design of the letter or of the surrounding panel being changed every twenty years.

Finally, the mark of English sterling standard fineness—a lion passant—has been used (with one twenty-three-year interruption) since 1544 to certify that the metal is 92.5 per cent pure silver. English silver rarely bears the word “sterling,” which is commonly found on modern American silver and on that made in some other countries for sale to Americans. Hallmarking of British goldware is somewhat different.

Colonial American silversmiths did not adopt the elaborate marking tradition of the Old World. In the English colonies no legal requirements existed for marking of any kind, the guild system was not transplanted, and until 1814 there was not even an assay office. So colonial smiths put only their own mark on their work. At first this was composed of the maker’s initials only, but later became more often his surname, with or without initial. Some smiths also used a symbol—John Coney the figure of a rabbit, for example—but this was comparatively rare. Of the Williamsburg silversmiths we have positive or presumed maker’s marks of only two—James Geddy and Alexander Kerr.

THE GEDDY SHOP AND THE GOLDEN BALL TODAY

Two reconstructed silversmithing shops in Williamsburg once more stand in the same spots occupied by similar establishments in the eighteenth century. Both are operating craft shops where skilled workers in costume produce articles of gold and silver using methods and tools like those employed by James Craig, James Geddy, Jr., and other Williamsburg silversmiths two centuries ago. For reasons important to twentieth-century visitors, a partial division of functions has been established: The making of jewelry and smaller silver items and engraving are emphasized at the Golden Ball; the casting of silver (done at the Geddy Foundry along with founding in other metals) and the making of larger pieces, particularly hollow ware, are more prominent at the Geddy Shop.

The original structure at the site of the Golden Ball, possibly built in 1724, remained standing until 1907, undergoing repairs and alterations from time to time. Craig had his shop in the western portion for a period before 1765, renting the space from James Carter, surgeon. In that year he bought the western fifteen feet of the house and lot, and the next year acquired the rest of it. After Craig’s death the building served its succeeding owners as a residence. The recollections of several old inhabitants of Williamsburg, a faded photograph, deeds, tax records, insurance policies, and excavated colonial brick foundations have all provided clues in reconstructing the building to its original outward appearance and inward room arrangement.

As for the shop itself, it has been designed and equipped—insofar as careful research and discerning imagination can make it—as it might have been in James Craig’s day. Lacking any descriptive material on the contents of the Golden Ball, the architects and curators have had to draw on other sources. The forge, for example, was designed and built in the image of forges described by Benvenuto Cellini and pictured in Diderot’s Encyclopedia. Some of the wall cabinets were made in imitation of those on display in European craft museums.

Much the same may be said of the Geddy Shop. Whereas the two-story, ell-shaped house dates to about 1750, the two shops of one and a half storys extending to the east of the house are reconstructed on original foundations still in the ground. James Geddy, Jr., probably worked on the premises before 1760, when he bought the house and lot from his mother. He rented out the easternmost shop but continued to practice silversmithing—presumably in the middle shop—until 1777 when he moved away and sold the property.

Since no records survive as to the interior arrangement or contents of the shop, the architects and curators have again had to use their best judgment and the most appropriate precedents and parallels in designing and furnishing the shop. While none of the silversmithing tools now used in either of the two shops are those of James Craig or James Geddy, Jr., some of them may have belonged to an English silversmith of the eighteenth century by the name of George Wickes. One particular tool, a square “stake” or anvil, displayed in the Geddy Shop, once belonged to Paul Revere. It was given to Colonial Williamsburg by Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, whose husband’s outstanding collection of American silver is housed at Yale University.

JAMES CRAIG,
AT THE GOLDEN BALL,
WILLIAMSBURG,

BEGS leave to inform the public that he has just got an eminent hand in the WATCH AND CLOCK MAKING BUSINESS, who served a regular apprenticeship to the same in Great Britain, and will be obliged to those who favour him with their commands. He makes and repairs REPEATING, HORIZONTAL, and STOP WATCHES, in the neatest and best manner. JEWELLERY, GOLD, and SILVERWORK, as usual, made at the above shop, for READY MONEY only.

James Geddy repaired watches, advertising that “he still continues to clean and repair Watches, and repairs his own work that fails in a reasonable time, without any expense to the purchaser.” Rough castings in brass for spandrels to decorate the faces of clocks and many fragments of watch crystals have been found in the course of archaeological excavation of the Geddy property. On several occasions James Craig advertised that his customers could have “All Kinds of CLOCKS and WATCHES cleaned and repaired” in his shop, and twice announced that he had “just got an eminent Hand, in the WATCH and CLOCK MAKING BUSINESS, who served a regular Apprenticeship to the same in Great Britain.”

In cabinets of rooms adjoining both shops the visitor may examine a collection of silver, cutlery, jewelry, and similar articles made in England and in the colonies during the eighteenth century. Of particular interest are the black enameled “mourning rings” so popular at that time. It was the custom for a man of wealth to provide in his will for the purchase of rings to be worn by members of his family and close friends. All Williamsburg silversmiths and jewelers advertised that they made mourning rings “on the shortest Notice.”

The contemporary silversmiths at the Geddy Shop and the Golden Ball do not make mourning rings—there is not much call for them these days. They do, however, make and sell a number of other articles of silver of true eighteenth-century design. For obvious reasons their supply of raw material comes from commercial refineries rather than from melted coins or plate. But they cast the silver, forge it, raise, seam, and solder it, and decorate the finished products just as did their predecessors.

Above all, today’s silversmith and his co-workers still hammer the lustrous metal with the same love of beauty that a sculptor might have. Indeed, the hammer is the silversmith’s most useful and in many ways his most delicate tool. With it he can produce effects in the metal that cannot be achieved in any other way. In fact, a fine silversmith must be able to wield a hammer much as an artist uses his brush—as if it were a natural extension of his arm.

WILLIAMSBURG SILVERSMITHS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION

Patrick Beech. Advertised himself as a silversmith and jeweler on one occasion in 1774. Nothing more is known of him.

John Brodnax (or Broadnax, 1668-1719). First silversmith to practice the craft in Williamsburg, from about 1694 until his death.

John Bryan. Mentioned in several legal documents of the 1740s as a silversmith in Williamsburg.

John Coke (1704-1767). Worked at silversmithing in Williamsburg from about 1724 until his death, and also, after 1755, kept a tavern in the present Coke-Garrett House near the Capitol.

Samuel Coke (died 1773). Son of John Coke; jeweler and possibly a silversmith in his father’s shop and later for himself.

James Craig (died 1794). Arrived from London about 1745 as a jeweler; added silversmithing and was established at the Golden Ball by 1765.

Jacob Flournoy (born 1663). Came to Williamsburg about 1700 from Switzerland, where his family were watchmakers and jewelers; referred to as a “goldsmith” in a deed of 1712.

James Galt (1741-1800). Born in Williamsburg, where his father was a silversmith; had his own shop in Richmond and later in Williamsburg; became the first superintendent of the hospital for the insane in the latter place; brother of John Minson Galt, the physician, and son of:

Samuel Galt (c. 1700-1761). A watchmaker who also did gold and silver work in Williamsburg from about 1750 until his death; keeper of the Public Gaol, 1759-1760.

James Geddy, Jr. (1731-1807). Williamsburg’s most accomplished silversmith until, about 1778, he moved to Dinwiddie and thence to Petersburg.

Alexander Kerr (died 1738). Arrived in Williamsburg in 1717. Jeweler and silversmith in Williamsburg for several years before his death.

Blovet Pasteur. Apparently born and died in Williamsburg, dates not known; a silversmith there at least from 1759 to 1778.

James Patterson (died 1773). A watchmaker who probably arrived in Williamsburg about 1760, and by 1771 was also making jewelry and silver.

William Rowsay. Was an apprentice to James Craig in 1771; combined his jewelry and silver work with his brother John’s general merchandise business in 1774.

Anthony Singleton (1750-1795). Opened a jewelry and silversmith shop in Williamsburg in 1771; moved to Richmond probably in 1787.

William Waddill. Engraver and silversmith; worked at one time in the shop of James Geddy, Jr., who is presumed to have been his brother-in-law; moved to Richmond about 1782 and thence, it is believed, to Petersburg.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Carl Bridenbaugh, The Colonial Craftsman. New York: New York University Press, 1950.

Kathryn C. Buhler, American Silver. Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1950.

E. Milby Burton, South Carolina Silversmiths, 1690-1860. Charleston: Charleston Museum, 1942.

George Barton Cutten, The Silversmiths of North Carolina. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History, 1948.

——, The Silversmiths of Georgia, Together with Watchmakers and Jewelers. Savannah: Pigeonhole Press, 1958.

——, The Silversmiths of Virginia from 1694 to 1850. Richmond: Dietz Press, 1952.

Martha Gandy Fales, Early American Silver. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1973.

——, Joseph Richardson & Family: Philadelphia Silversmiths. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1974.

Leonard Everett Fisher, The Silversmiths. New York: Franklin Watts, 1964.

Jennifer F. Goldsborough, Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century Maryland Silver in the Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1975.

High Museum of Art, Georgia Collects American Silver, 1780-1870. Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1970.

Hugh Honour, Goldsmiths & Silversmiths. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1971.

Graham Hood, American Silver, A History of Style, 1650-1900. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971.

Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Southern Silver: An Exhibition of Silver Made in the South prior to 1860. Houston: Houston Museum of Fine Arts, 1968.

Henry J. Kauffman, The Colonial Silversmith, His Techniques and His Products. Camden, N. J.: J. Nelson, 1969.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Early American Silver: A Picture Book. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1955.

Charles F. Montgomery and Catherine H. Maxwell, Early American Silver: Collectors, Collections, Exhibitions, Writings. Portland, Me.: Anthoensen Press, 1969.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Colonial Silversmiths, Masters & Apprentices. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1956.

Ivor Noël Hume, James Geddy and Sons, Colonial Craftsmen. Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1970.

John Marshall Phillips, American Silver. London: M. Parrish, 1949.

Millicent Stow, American Silver. New York: Barrows Co., 1950.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Masterpieces of American Silver. Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1960.

The Silversmith in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg was first published in 1956. Written by Thomas K. Ford, editor, now retired, it is based largely on an unpublished monograph by Thomas K. Bullock, formerly of the Department of Research. It was reprinted in 1966, revised in 1972, and reprinted in 1976.

Transcriber’s Notes

• Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.
• Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
• In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.