From elegant tea sets to grand goblets, splendid platters and snuff boxes, the Cincinnati Art Museum holds over 400 pieces of silver designed, crafted, and sold in its city. With its founding in 1788, Cincinnati established itself as a leading centre for the luxury silver trade in the United States. Cincinnati Silver: 1788 1940 traces the silver industry in the Queen City from the early years of production before the Civil War, through the growth of mechanization and mass production, and into the Arts and Crafts and Art Deco periods. Two key essays examine the origins, development, structure, and local and national importance of the local silver trade. There are 150 illustrated, narrative entries on the most active individuals and companies, richly supplemented with more than 250 colour plates, over 200 maker and retailer hallmarks, and a range of important new archival information, such as illustrations of storefronts, craftsmen and proprietors, period advertisements and sample books. In addition to a bibliography, two appendices present an exhaustive index of other active craftsmen, as well as an inventory of the Museum’s Cincinnati silver collection. As the first comprehensive volume to be published on this subject in nearly forty years, ‘Cincinnati Silver: 1788 1940’ is a vital resource for scholars, collectors, and enthusiasts of American silver, material culture and commerce.
Contributors: Amy Miller Dehan is curator of decorative arts and design at the Cincinnati Art Museum She was editor of the catalogue Outside the Ordinary: Contemporary Art in Glass, Wood and Ceramics from the Wolf Collection (2009). Janet C. Haartz is a retired chemist, research administrator, author and collector of nineteenth century decorative arts. Nora Kohl is a curatorial assistant for the decorative arts and design department at the Cincinnati Art Museum. REVIEWS: .
Cincinnati Silver: 1788 1940 will add a significant chapter to the history of this noble metal in America
Donald L. Fennimore, Curator Emeritus, Winterthur Museum .
Beyond just a book about silver, Dehan uses that silver to tell the complex and fascinating story of the development of one of America’s most important cities
Andrew Richmond, Vice President, Garth’s Auction
