In future blogs, we intend to give you an insight into either new stock items, focus on a specific maker, or suggest gift ideas. But as this is our first blog, we thought we would give you a little introduction into who we are and what we do.
In 1974, Patsy Styles had a unit in the newly opened Antiques Arcade in Hungerford, Berkshire; a town already renowned for its many antique shops set mid way between London and Bath. This proved to be so successful that her husband Derek joined her full time in 1977 and then opened their shop Styles Silver in Bridge Street in 1979.
Their son George joined them in 2001 after university and now runs the business. He was granted the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in 2012 for his time spent promoting the work of young silversmiths.
Derek spent the early years driving all over the country visiting auctions obtaining new stock, and kept coming across exciting pieces of post war British silver but couldn't find any information on who made them. He started compiling a list of makers marks and researched who they were and where they worked. He was surprised about how often, on the secondary market, many pieces were turning up at auction without any information on the maker. After spending many hours going through records at Goldsmiths' Hall in London, in 2008 he wrote an article for an antiques magazine on Post War silver.
The editor of The Antique Collectors Club contacted him and when she discovered that there were no specialised books on the subject, commissioned him to write the first one. Some time into the project he met John Andrew, curator of The Pearson Silver Collection, the largest collection of Post War British Silver, and together they compiled the book 'DESIGNER BRITISH SILVER - From Studios Established 1930-1985'. Published by ACC Art Books in 2014, at 4.5 kilos, it is still the 'go to' for collectors, auction houses and museums.
This interest in modern silver led them into showing the work of Contemporary Silversmiths, from younger smiths just getting started to some of the most important currently working. We now keep a large ever changing stock of Modern Silver.
We had already built up a good range of silver animal and bird models by the time George joined us, but he extended these and we now have one of the largest stocks of old and new models in the country. These include: Silver & Enamel examples by Saturno - African Silver Sculptures by Patrick Mavros - Hand Chased Cast Silver examples - Resin filled Hallmarked Silver models - everything from Birds, Animals, Fish, Reptiles to Insects.
More next time - enjoy browsing.