Famous Silversmith # 8

Information below is from http://www.chineseargent.com/home/wallace-silversmiths

Wallace Silversmith was founded by Robert Wallace. Robert Wallace was born in Prospect, Connecticut on November 13, 1815, he was 8the son of a Scottish immigrant and a renowned silversmith James Wallace and his wife Irene (Williams), who immigrated to America in the late 18th century.
Young Robert Wallace had a very limited education. His education level when compared to the others in the time period is only equal to that of a farmer’s son during the period. Robert Wallace was a revolutionary of German Silver used in America flatware making history. Robert did not even venture into Sterling Silver flatware until the year 1875. Robert Wallace in 1833 at the age of 16, did not apprentice under his father but instead became an apprentice to Captain William Mix, who was a very renowned spoon maker for the most successful hollowware and flatware maker in the Northeast America colonies.
At that time, an apprenticeship with the Meriden Britannia Co was very highly sought after and their products were mainly made from a kind of pewter alloy (Britannia ware) and silver plated items. Surprisingly, by the end of the year, Robert Wallace left his apprenticeship to open his own factory. Wallace was only trained in spoon making so that the only product he offered were spoons.

In 1834 Roger became amazed by the strength and durability of German Silver. He was so impressed that he approached and eventually bought the recipe for making the metal from a German Chemist, Dr Louis Feuchtwanger. Roger then began to manufacture the first German silver made in America and led the new industry in the new country. German silver is also known as Nickel Silver, is a silver-white alloy that does not actually have any silver it is composed of 52 percent to 80 percent copper, 10 percent to 35 percent zinc and 5 percent to 35 percent nickel.
Wallace’s new German silver spoons were then supplied to the company Hall, Elton & Co. Roger’s factory is documented to produce 9 dozen (108 pieces) of spoons daily, this business lasted for almost 15 years and ended in 1849.
Over the years Wallace had tried to diversify and in 1849 he entered in to numerous partnership with various manufacturing companies until Spoons were no longer his companies only product. Wallace entered in partnerships with J.B. Pomeroy for manufacturing German Silver spoons on contract for Fred R. Curtis & Co of Hartford and Britannia spoons (pewter alloy) for Hall, Elton & Co and Edgar Atwater of Wallingford.
And then In 1855 R. Wallace and Co. was formed. It was a partnership between Wallace with Samuel Simpson. The new company began to diversify and started manufacturing all flatware using German Silver. It was a large gamble as Robert Wallace invested $12,000 into the new partnership, which was a lot of money at that time. Ten years later In 1865 a new contract was formed and the firm was once again re-organised, this time under the name of Wallace, Simpson & Co. The new company was formed as a partnership between H.C. Wilcox, W.W. Lyman and Isaac C. Lewis. They are a group of managers with the Meriden Britannia Co. and this new company was worth $100,000 at that time. The next step was Venturing into Sterling Silver, In 1871, Wallace had purchased the balance of his partner’s shares and took control of the entire company. Together with two of his sons (Robert B. and William J.), he once again renamed the company, this time as R. Wallace and Sons Mfg. Co.. Also the same year, Robert Wallace incorporated another new company. Wallace Brothers was founded. This was a co-partnership of Robert Wallace, his sons Robert B., William J., Henry L., George H., Frank A. and his sons-in-law W.J. Leavenworth and D.E. Morris.
R. Wallace and Sons Mfg. Co.. products were all sterling wares and high quality German Silver plated flatware and hollow ware. While the other company, Wallace Brothers produced silver-plated flatware using stainless steel as the base metal. It was at this time that Robert Wallace introduced his first 3 sterling patterns to featuring the Wallace name. The first 3 sterling silver series are known as- Hawthorne, The Crown, and St. Leon. These beautiful patterns were soon followed by sterling and silver-plated hollow-ware offered in the same designs.
In 1879, Wallace Brothers ceased operation and was merged with R. Wallace and Sons. The hollow-ware production and business were stopped, however Wallace and Sons Mfg. Co. continued to invest heavily in new tools, machinery and expand the staff of skilled artisans. This is the time in Wallace’s life when he produced some of the most beautiful sterling flatware designs.Robert Wallace passed away on June 1, 1892, and was succeeded in the business by his sons and son-in-law. They continued to grow the business and eventually become the largest manufacturer of flat tableware in the world. They opened a plant in Canada (Cookshire, Quebec) in 1924 and The Canadian branch was incorporated in 1945 as R. Wallace & Sons of Canada Ltd (sold in 1964). In the 1950s the firm expanded even more by purchasing the Watson Company of Attleboro and the Tuttle Silver Company and Smith & Smith. In the year 1956, Wallace and Sons Mfg. Co. changed its name once again to Wallace Silversmiths. In the year 1959, Wallace Silversmiths was then purchased by Hamilton Watch Company. In 1971 it became a division of H.M.W. Industry and in 1983 a Subsidiary of Katy Industries Inc. In 1986 the business was acquired by Syratech Corporation. They are still in business and have the rights to Wallace’s designs. Many of Rogers pieces are available still today, as a matter of fact there are many on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/bhp/1835-r-wallace check him out!!

Thanks for reading and happy stacking!