Here's a big topic about modern silver makers and silver art business

I have a very strange question.
Why there're so few silverware companies?(I mean hand made hollowware and hand made customized big silver arts.) So many american companies are getting shrink (Gorham, international, etc..) and many are dead(reed barton, whiting, etc...), others are focusing more on other business and do very little silverwares especially hollowwares. Is this not only because the demand is getting fewer and fewer? Or just because there're are fewer and fewer great artisans?

 

Demand for sterling flatware has flatlined; it's dead or on life support. Americans don't want to deal with it or pay for it. Formal china is also dead in the water. It does sell once in a while, but not in the numbers it used to.

 

The major American silver manufacturers no longer really exist - nearing or in bankruptcy, most sold off to conglomerates some time ago (and they hadn't produced 'hand made' silver in many decades), Reed & Barton was the last hold-out, sold in 2015 to Lenox, who offers a limited selection of R&B sterling flatware. Lifetime Sterling owns Gorham, International, Kirk-Stieff, Towle, Tuttle, and Wallace, also offering a limited selection of sterling patterns. The only large hand crafted silver manufacturer left is Old Newbury Crafters, they struggle and have an extremely small staff - not saying that hand crafted silver isn't available here, still made in small shops, but sterling flatware and holloware is just not a mass market product anymore...

~Cheryl

 

Thank you so much for your information. However, why sterling flatware and holloware is just not a mass market product anymore? Is that because artisans cannot make really nice stuffs or because of the market taste changed?
However, Georg Jensen and Buccellati are still making silver arts. Why american hand crafted silver manufacturers cannot make one of the best silverwares?

 

Interesting. I have never considered ONC as large. You may remember that I used to live in Newburyport 1973-1982 and used to love window-shopping there. I have just a few small things that they made, but it always seemed to be a tiny shop on a tiny alley in a relatively small city.

 

Because Americans of the current generation either can't afford it or don't want to have to take care of it.

 

And what about the silver arts? Such as large centerpiece or statures?

 

Gone, gone and long gone. No one wants to pay for it, the few that might can't afford it, and no one wants to care for it. Some pieces are still made by artisans, but the big manufacturers are all gone as far as I know. It may still be made for the Asian market, but not for Americans.

 

That is so sad as no more nice arts can be crafted and only few will like to enjoy them.

 

One last question, is there any silver art exhibition ever exist in america now? Thank you.

 

You're right of course, 'major' would have been a better term - any firm that's been in business over a century, still producing and selling several full lines of sterling flatware, as well as holloware has to be considered a major concern, though at this point its future is uncertain...

~Cheryl

 

There is also the fact that, even with pieces lost to scrap, there is still quite a bit of old silver available, including full services of both flatware and holloware, and usually at more reasonable prices than new production...

~Cheryl

 

It's a miracle they are still around at all.

 

Oh Mr. Cheryl,
I am sorry. However, my english is bad a

agree with that, but not including museum pieces.

 

I think there's still a good market for religious silver..

 

Peter Dooney of Dooney & Bourke bought it several years ago, but seems to take little interest - they keep plugging away anyway...

Might find this 2010 article interesting: http://archive.boston.com/business/articles/2010/06/22/silversmiths_fear_end_to_their_craft/


~Cheryl

 

Actually, I would like to get involved in this business. And would like to design and customize hand make fine silvers for clients because my boys are world best astisans. So is there anyone can tell me some information about silver art exhibitions?

 

Did he really. I had no idea.

 

My generation has very different priorities for their discretionary funds. Still lots of oversized homes being built, lots of expensive trucks & SUVs being purchased off dealer lots, lots of expensive tattoos, hair treatments, and expensive vacations being planned.

 

There are silver exhibits in numerous museums in the U.S. - and most large exhibits had published catalogs or books, and high-end auction catalogs are good references...

~Cheryl