Handmade sterling silver.(Design notes)

In 1912 James Robinson established his eponymous antiques firm in New York City, where he specialized in Chinese porcelains and English silver. The firm first offered twentieth-century handmade sterling silver flatware in 1930 when it formed a liaison with a company of silversmiths based in Sheffield, England. Twenty years later James Robinson became the only United States retail establishment to offer this flatware, and in 2000 the firm purchased the Sheffield manufacturer.

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The flatware at James Robinson is handmade by silversmiths who hammer out each spoon, fork, knife, and serving piece from a bar of sterling silver, a process that makes the silver denser, harder, and tougher than machine-made sterling flatware. The patterns are impressed in molds rather than die stamping to maintain their crisp lines and pronounced shape. The firm recommends that its handmade forks and spoons be used daily and washed in a dishwasher to maintain the luster and look of the silver over time. In contrast, machine-made silver should be washed by hand.

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James Robinson's flatware is produced in a wide range of patterns, some that replicate traditional styles, some that are adaptations of earlier patterns, and some that are wholly new. They include English Shell, the first pattern introduced for matched table services in the early eighteenth century; Lamerie, a pattern created by Paul de Lamerie, the early eighteenth-century French Huguenot silversmith; Onslow, a pattern developed from the fan part of the shell, which was later given a more linear appearance during the art deco period; Fiddle, created in the middle of the eighteenth century and popular ...