Not much is known about Georg Roth and the history behind his name. He first worked for the Hanauer Silberwaren Manufaktur (1891-1906) and only used his own mark, a crowned GR for Georg Roth from 1906. Based in Hanau, Germany, not far from Frankfurt, Roth specialised in fine copies from the antique, in the most popular historical styles and in particular French Rococo.

Widely considered one of the best Norwegian goldsmiths and silversmiths, David Andersen was apprenticed to the jeweller Jacob Tostrup in Christiania (now Oslo). During his apprenticeship he traveled to Berlin, Paris and London, where he exported the unique technique of the Norwegian filigree. In 1876 he was back in Christiania, where he founded his own company introducing his own mark, ‘David Andersen’.

Hermann Böhm (also spelled Boehm) was a famous silversmith and enameler working in Vienna between the end of the 19th century until 1922. Originally from Hungary, he moved to Austria in 1866 and started working as a silversmith with his father-in-law Ludwig Politzer.

Ludwig Politzer was one of the most important silversmiths and jewellers working in Vienna in the second half of the 19th century. Although we don’t know much about his life, we know he was born in 1841 in Szeged (Hungary); from 1866 he was in partnership with Hermann Böhm until about 1870.

Born in Bratislava in 1819, Hermann Ratzersdorfer moved to Vienna at the beginning of the 1840s, where he started working as a silversmith. He specialised in silver and gold objects of vertu, tableware and jewellery, often enamelled and decorated in the style known as Historicism. He was also acclaimed for his rock crystal objects.

Eugenio Avolio (1876-1929) was a famous sculptor, silversmith and engraver. He lived and worked in Naples between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. He was apprenticed to the popular artist and sculptor Vincenzo Gemito. Professor at the Arts Academy in Naples, he received several international awards.

The mark “KB” appears on some of the finest objets d’art produced in Vienna in the last quarter of the 19th century.

Objects of the highest quality - such as tazzas, cups, nefs, clocks, cornucopias - were made in Vienna, emulating the style of Italian Renaissance and Baroque, using beautifully carved rock crystal or hand-painted enamel, and mounted in elaborate silver-gilt mounts and set with precious stones.

Mario Buccellati was born in Milan in 1891. His father died when he was only fourteen and he started working to support his family. He was apprenticed to the jewellery firm Beltrami & Beltrami, based in Milan.

Well known as silversmith to the kings Louis XVIII and Charles X, Jean-Charles Cahier was apprenticed to Martin-Guillaume Biennais, silversmith appointed by Napoleon. In 1801 he became master silversmith and in 1821, after Biennais retirement, he took over his company.

William Cripps was a prominent and prolific manufacturing and retail silversmith based in London.

After being apprenticed to the popular goldsmith and banker William Daume, he was set free in 1738 and five years later he submitted his first mark as a largeworker in Compton Street, Soho.

Sampson Mordan was a British silversmith and inventor, specialised in pens and novelties.

He was apprenticed to the locksmith Joseph Bramah.

James Charles Edington was an important English silversmith, producing silver in Victorian and Georgian style.

Mappin & Webb has been for over two centuries one of the most illustrious British manufacturing and retail silversmith company.

Jonathan Mappin opened his first silver workshop in 1775 in Sheffield, a major centre of the English silver market.

Jonathan Hayne was a prolific English silversmith of the 19th century.

He was born in Clerkenwell, London, son of a surgeon. He apprenticed as a silversmith and started is career in 1810, entering his mark in partnership with Thomas Wallis, at 16 Red Lion Street in Clerkenwell. Six years later Wallis and Hayne dissolved their partnership and in 1821 Jonathan entered his own first mark.

The company is considered the main producer of Hanau silver. During the 19th Century Hanau became famous for its silversmith workshops producing excellent copies of antique silver in historical styles.

Johann Daniel Schleissner, son of a goldsmith in Augsburg, moved to Hanau in 1816 and the following year he opened his own company. He produced items in the Augsburg style and sold them internationally, especially in Russia, France and Near East.

John Edward Terrey was an important English silversmith producing mainly tableware and presentation pieces in Georgian and Victorian style. Apart from making very fine new pieces, he also used to recuperate antique silver by altering and rechasing it.

Neresheimer & Sohne is undoubtedly the most famous of the Hanau silversmiths working at the end of the 19th century.

At the end of the 19th century in fact, the city of Hanau, not far from Frankfurt in Germany, became famous for its silver industry tradition: Hanau manufacturers specialised in fine copies from the antique, in the most popular historical styles, generally marked with pseudo-hallmarks in the manner they were trying to imitate.

Scholar Adrien Von Ferscht described Cheong Lam as ‘a sadly all too rare retail silversmith whose work demonstrates clearly a highly creative mind and a quest for the highest quality’ (A. Von Ferscht, Chinese Export Silver 1785-1940, 4th edition 2015).

Wing Fat is a very fine although quite rare Chinese retail silversmith, active in Canton and Hong Kong between 1875 and 1930. The person at the head of the company is still unknown, but surely he employed very fine artisans, not just in Canton, but also in Shanghai to create superb quality items.

Hoaching (original Cantonese name is Wo Hing) is one of the largest silversmithing businesses based in Canton between 1825 and 1880. The shop, initially retailing finely carved ivory, is documented since 1825. It was later taken over by the founder’s two sons, and by 1850 the firm was retailing also silver, jewellery items, carved wood, mother of pearl and lacquer.