By Ben Marks — Right now, “tariff” is a dirty word, as American farmers, manufacturers, workers, and consumers are being asked to pay for a trade war with China—as we went to press, tariffs on goods imported from Mexico were also being threatened. But in 1842, tariffs on imported silver products, along with a slew of other goods, worked out pretty well for U.S. manufacturers of silver hollowware and flatware. The reason was the duties imposed on all those non-silver imported goods, iron foremost among...

Janine Skerry Shows Off the Silver Collection at Colonial Williamsburg

By Maribeth Keane and Brad Quinn — My interest in silver started when I was a child. One of my earliest memories was opening either my mother or father’s jewelry box and using a magnifying glass to look at all the little marks on the pieces inside. There were also a few pieces of metalwork in our family: a copper coffeepot and a small silver saucepan. My great, great, great grandfather in Sweden made the coffeepot, and my grandfather made the little silver saucepan. He passed away when I was 7. It intrigued me that people...

The Kalo Shop, a Mecca for Arts and Crafts Sterling Silver

By Maribeth Keane — How did I get started collecting Arts and Crafts silver? My wife and I had been collecting Arts and Crafts items as far back as I can remember, mostly furniture and tiles. One day many years ago I got bit by the silver bug. We lived in California and I’d visit antique dealers and one of them showed me a silver serving spoon by Chicago silver maker Falick Novick. It was beautifully made, the shape was great and it had little marks all over it, which I soon learned are called planishing or...