#History #Including #Patents #Silversmith #Arthur #Willmore #Pennington
.
The silversmith Arthur Willmore Pennington was well known for his openwork silver vanities and perfume bottles, decanter labels, hatpin holders, silver topped perfume bottles, pepperettes to name a few of his creations.
ARTHUR WILLMORE PENNINGTON SCENT BOTTLE
This fully hallmarked sterling silver antique pierced silver scent bottle was crafted in 1900 by Arthur Willmore Pennington in the late Victorian era.
HALLMARKS STAMPED ON THIS ANTIQUE
This antique was officially assayed* (tested for silver purity*) in 1900 at Birmingham Assay Office, which was established by Act of Parliament.
The hallmarks shown above are explained below.
Far Left – A.W.P into a chamfered rectangle
(the maker’s mark of Arthur Willmore Pennington)
Middle Left – an anchor – the official mark of Birmingham Assay Office
Middle Right – lion passant denoting sterling silver
Far Right – date letter lower case a which represents the 1900 date of assay
His business premises were located in the heart of the Birmingham jewellery quarter at Northampton Street and then at 28 Augusta Street.
The buildings in this part of the Birmingham jewellery quarter are densely packed and have courtyards.
Jewellers performed certain tasks in courtyards or workshops located away from the dwelling because they were considered noxious or dangerous.
These tasks primarily involved processes that produced strong fumes, noxious gases, or posed fire hazards, such as enamelling, soldering, melting, pickling*, and refining precious metals which is a process which purifies gold and silver.
The term pickling* was used to describe the process of using acids to clean the metal after soldering or annealing.
Annealing describes heat treatment which softens metals making them malleable enough to work.
The acidic fumes were corrosive and dangerous to inhale.
We feel fortunate to have found two wonderful patents registered to this jeweller.
One is for hat pin holders which was accepted on May 6 1909.
The other patent is for a match or wax seal holders which was accepted on December 31 1909
The maker’s mark shown above has been seen on many sterling silver items.
Another mark for this maker has small decorative strokes, called serifs, at the end of the main strokes of letters.
PATENT 190904092
PATENT 190904092
PATENT 190903085
FIGURE 1 SHOWS THE WAX SEAL IN THE HOLDER
PATENT 190903085
Please note that although we spend many hours each month updating or compiling new work for our historical blog section which is free to view, we do not offer an appraisal, identification, valuation or dating service to members of the public.
We do not purchase stock from private sellers.
However, each purchase from our store is shipped with a lavishly illustrated history which dates the item and details the history of the item and that of the maker.
Sources:
Patent Office
Silvercollection.it
