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By Carol Connare
They said it was on the outs. Brushed it off as passé. Some scholars openly reviled it, calling it “machine-made garbage.”
“It” was American silver created between 1840 and 1900. And it had a bad rap. Until recently, that is. In 1994, a comprehensive exhibit of 19th century American silver at the Dallas Museum of Art wooed experts into giving the ornate (sometimes ostentatious) pieces of this maligned period a second chance.
Craftsmen of the time strived to make an art form all their own, a melting pot of traditions, techniques, and styles. The result transcended. It was truly American — like jazz music — an amalgam of all that came before. The results take your breath away. As Americans absorbed exotic cultures and ancient history, the silver adorning their tables, sideboards, and vanities reflected this worldliness. Many pieces are self-consciously wealthy; others are humble to their influences. The best are both.
• • •
Lunch hour, New York City. A fine spring day. On the sidewalk of 51st and Second, two fluffy beige cocker spaniels tug their owner down a sidewalk. People of every color wait for the walking green –– they talk on cell phones, paw through purses, check their watches. In the alley, Japanese men gather by the back door of a sushi restaurant for a moment of sunshine before midday rush.
A few steps away at 300 51st Street East, a smiling doorman in a gold-trimmed black suit and cap greets. This is a high rise apartment building, a nice place to live with views all the way down Second Avenue and out over the East River. At street level, a large picture window gleams. This is the Lauren Stanley Gallery. Behind the glass, in an unpretentious, elegant showroom, exists the largest collection of 19th century American silver for sale.
Lauren Reddington and Stanley Szaro met two decades ago in law school. When Szaro decided to open a gallery, Reddington was eager to help. In 1995, they opened Lauren Stanley in the bottom floor of Szaro’s apartment building on the East Side.
“We started out with general antiques, but that wasn’t working,” says Szaro, a trim man in his 40s with a soft voice and sparkling eyes. “Since we both loved American 19th century silver, we decided to concentrate on that and have been doing so ever since.”
Tall glass and black lacquer cabinets line nearly every inch of wall space and are full of twinkling silver: urns and pitchers, flatware, goblets, ladles, hand mirrors, platters,
baskets. Reddington points to a pair of bud vases then a butter dish shaped like a
Venetian gondola with a paddle-shaped knife. These are some of her favorite pieces.
“I love silver because it’s beautiful and functional at the same time,” says
Reddington, a striking brunette with an easy smile. “Food tastes better when you are seated at a table that’s dressed in silver.”
Post Civil War Americans couldn’t have agreed more. A new prosperity followed the war and people with money showed it off. Not only were Americans producing the most silver in the world they also consumed it voraciously. Silver played a starring role in ever-elaborate social rituals enacted in the “theater” of opulent dining rooms. A typical 19th century table setting might include such silver pieces as engraved knives, spoons, and tongs; punch bowls adorned with copper dragonflies; fruit dishes wrapped in grape vines. Centerpieces tended to be over the top — flashy, intentional signs of wealth, often lit by candelabra. The best pieces were considered fine art and bore a joyful, daring mix of styles, from neoclassical and Egyptian to Russian, Japanese, and art nouveau.
Machine Technology
Silver’s popularity coincided with great forward strides in manufacture. After the Tariff of 1842 drove foreign silver from the marketplace, American makers like Tiffany, Gorham, and Dominick & Haff adopted machine technology, specialized their labor force to increase production, and brought master craftsmen from Europe to train apprentices. Young men would start at age 14. They spent their first year stoking fires, observing masters, perhaps trying their hand at shaping a spoon. Seven years later they would emerge from the system, skilled craftsmen ready to ply their trade. By the 1870s, this production and training process had made American silverwork the most technically superior and innovative in the world. Such streamlined production also led to astounding prolificacy; over 600 flatware patterns were available in the American
marketplace between 1840 and 1875.
Social Change
The style and use of silver saw a dramatic shift in a short period of time. Before 1840, all-silver forks were considered aristocratic, even anti-Republican. People used them clandestinely so as not to offend. When John Adams brought home silver forks from France and used them on the presidential table he was accused of abandoning the principles of democracy. This had changed by 1847 when True Politeness, A Handbook of Etiquette for Ladies, was published in New York City. The author claimed that “silver forks are now met with in almost every respectable house.” By the close of the 19th century, the ornate style of the period was falling out of favor. The Arts and Crafts movement coupled with the Colonial Revival helped bring it to a quick end.
“After World War I, the servant class was greatly diminished and people didn’t have help to polish their silver or perform other household chores,” observes Szaro. “Simple patterns were easier to clean.”
Soon enough, the fantastic flourishes of the late 19th century silversmiths were deemed fussy, extravagant, even garish. Says Szaro, “That’s why you sometimes hear silver of the period referred to as Halloween silver.” Mistakenly, the silver of the period was berated for being largely machine-made. “Not so,” says Reddington. “That’s the biggest myth about this era. Yes, the forms were made by machine, but this allowed craftsmen to finish them with detailed handwork – acid-etching, casting, engraving, chasing, repousse.”
In the wake of the 1994 Dallas show modern scholars and collectors finally began to fully appreciate the beauty, workmanship, and whimsy expressed in the silver of the era. Even so, “silver of this period is still undervalued,” says Szaro. Most moderate-income buyers of objets d’art can afford a variety of items — fish set, coffee and tea urns, butter dishes, teaspoons, or novelty items. Even museum-quality pieces are
not out of ordinary financial reach. Lauren Stanley carries a wide range of pieces, from practical and collectible to the rare and exotic. Prices range from $75 for a set of
teaspoons to thousands of dollars for a centerpiece. At any given time, the shop holds 5,000 items. Medallion flatware is a specialty.
Lauren Stanley Gallery
Lauren Stanley is many things: a gallery, a dealer, an appraisal service. Once neglected, 19th century American silver is finally getting its due and Lauren Stanley Gallery is one of the epicenters of the rediscovery. Szaro and Reddington are also committed
to the scholarly sharing of information about 19th century American silver. They mount exhibits, often enlisting the help of well-known silver historian D. Albert Soeffing. In 1999, American Soup Ladles 1800-1900 generated great interest; Martha Stewart Living featured the exhibit on her television show. In 2000, George Washington American Medallion Silver featured flatware and hollowware never before publicly exhibited. Still, the gallery is a small, owner-operated business. Szaro and Reddington do all their own marketing and publicity. Szaro even cleans the silverware.
“I use and recommend Wright’s polish,” says Szaro. On Mondays, Szaro wheels a gold luggage rack into the gallery. He loads it with antique silver.
“There’s nothing worse than buffing a piece smooth, taking out its design,” he muses. “There’s a false sense that silver has to be too clean, so clean you have to wear sunglasses.” He rises 16 floors in the elevator and unloads the silver inside his small apartment kitchen, no bigger than a large closet. There, he cleans each piece by hand. In this simple act of caring for a piece of the past, he helps preserve it for the future.
For more information contact the Lauren Stanley Gallery, 300 East 51st Street,
New York, NY 10022. Phone 212-888-6732. Email: Info@laurenstanley.com.
Catalog & Website: www.laurenstanley.com
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