Old Newbury Crafters Sterling Silver 119-Piece Wilton Flatware Set for 12 in Jensen Style
Old Newbury Crafters sterling silver 119-piece flatware set for 12 in the Wilton pattern, retailed by Shreve, Crump & Low, beautifully and subtly hand-hammered, with heavy gage, in a style and quality similar to that of Georg Jensen, consisting of:
- 16 dinner forks measuring 7 1/2'' in length
- 12 luncheon forks measuring 7'' in length
- 12 salad forks measuring 6 1/2'' in length
- 12 flat butter spreaders measuring 5 1/2'' in length
- 12 luncheon knives measuring 8 3/4'' in length
- 12 dinner knives measuring 9 1/2'' in length
- 12 teaspoons measuring 5 7/8'' in length
- 12 bouillon spoons measuring 5 7/8'' in length
- 12 oval soup spoons measuring 7 1/8'' in length
- 5 tablespoons measuring 8 3/4'' in length
- 1 cold meat fork measuring 8 1/8'' in length
- 1 pie server measuring 8 3/4'' in length
Each piece bears hallmarks as shown. Total weight is 157 troy ounces, including 1 troy ounce per knife. This
Old Newbury Crafters is a celebrated American silversmith, known for creating high-quality, entirely handmade flatware. Old Newbury Crafters began business in 1915 as a partnership between "spoonman" Elmer Senior and "polisher" Albert MacBurnie. Both men had worked at the Frank Smith Silver Company in Gardner, Massachusetts. After leaving there, MacBurnie went to work for Towle Silversmiths. When MacBurnie left Towle, he went to work full time at Old Newbury Crafters. In 1921, at the Art Institute of Chicago, at the Applied Arts Exhibition, the prize for original design in silverware was given to Old Newbury Crafters. In 1934, at the New York Society of Craftsmen, their work was exhibited at a show illustrating contemporary trends in American craft work. After many generations, Old Newbury Crafters is still active to this day.
Their unique, extremely limited production is characterized by renowned hand-wrought (hand hammered) patterns. The process begins with a single bar of sterling silver. There is no stamping or cutting out of the sterling - the piece is forged with a five pound hammer on the polished surface of an anvil. As it is forged the silver hardens and must be heated by the Silversmith to soften it. It is fired to a glowing red and plunged into cold water.
The hammering doesn't end when the piece is forged to shape; it is rehammered with a lighter planishing hammer to smooth out the heavy forging marks, leaving a subtle hammered texture. The hand-forged sterling silver flatware uses many of the same tools and techniques that existed in silversmith shops in the 1700s.
“People really appreciate the way it was made and how it looks,” says master silversmith Geoffrey Blake, who has been making these exquisite pieces for 46 years. The flatware made by Old Newbury Crafters has beautiful handmade details, like marks that show the rich texture of the forging. Unlike machine-made sterling silver pieces that are rolled out to a uniform thickness, the thickness throughout a piece of handmade flatware varies to enhance its strength and beauty.
Some of their pieces are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, in the National Museum of American History in Washington DC, as well as in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York and has been exhibited in various museums, including the Craft in America Center in Los Angeles.
Shreve, Crump and Low traces its roots to 1796, when watchmaker and silversmith John MacFarlane opened a shop in Boston. The business was sold in 1813 to silversmith Jabez Baldwin—and Baldwin’s apprentice John Low became a partner in 1822. Benjamin Shreve and Charles Crump both joined the firm in 1855. William Shreve returned from the Civil War in 1865 and became a partner. Charles Crump took over the shop’s management in 1869. Business then began to take off under the proper name of Shreve, Crump and Low. The business continues to manage a stellar reputation as a family-owned business that still maintains a shop in Boston.
Please feel free to ask us any questions, and please see our other listings. NO published price will beat ours. We hand polish all items before shipping them out, but if there is interest for a professional polishing and/or engraving removal, we can take care of that for an additional charge and with delayed shipping.