“BALTIMORE” aka Channel back

“BALTIMORE” aka

Channel back

The pieces of BALTIMORE below are marked STIEFF, but were they have a longer story... thru several companies.

Commonly called “Channel Back” in the Baltimore area.. this is not a pattern name but a description of the way the silver is manufactured. Stieff called the pattern BALTIMORE.

Other examples of Channel Back that are not marked STIEFF

Spoon and two larger forks in “Channel Back” Smaller fork is Stieff Rose.

Photo above with blue background of a demi spoon is from www.imperialhalfbushel.com

While I do not have a back photo.. this is a true Channel Back, maker unknown, but suspected to

be of Klank origin according to Patrick Duggan of Imperial Half Bushel.

OK, to understand the BALTIMORE / Channel Back story... we first have to review a bit of Baltimore Silver history,

Starting with Conrad Klank and his brothers.

My history here skips around a bit, so try to keep the story line.

Conrad, Herbert and Fredrick W. Klank started a silversmithing company in 1872 called Klank and Brother.

Odd choice of a name, with a singular BROTHER with multiple brothers involved. It would appear that Conrad was always the lead in the company. Conrad’s sons would later join the firm.

1889 Polk Directory

The 1889 Polk Directory for Baltimore shows Klank & Bro. and at that time Conrad and his SON, George H. Klank are listed under the business together. The other brothers are not listed in the directory, also...

George’s son, George H. Klank Jr. is listed as an engraver at the firm.

1891 Polk Directory

1891 Everything seems similar to 1889, except that Geo. H and Conrad’s names are reversed for

the Klank & Bro. listing. Brother Fred K. Klank is listed as a silversmith, but no firm is given.

Later in 1891, KLANK & BRO went bankrupt and the property of the company sold off at auction.

1892

February 1892, Conrad’s Brother, George H. Klank (Sr.) now has his own company “Klank Manufacturing Co”

One must assume that Geo. H. Klank would have taken some of the dies and tools with him in creating the new business. Geo. Klank appears to have produced “Hand Chased Rose” at the new business, while Conrad Klank & Son’s was also producing the same pattern. The pattern “Hand Chased Rose” would eventually end up with both

Herr-Schofield and Baltimore Sterling Silver Company (Stieff)

1892 Polk Directory

(Klank Manufacturing would not survive the year)

In 1893, The Polk Directory shows two businesses at 110 West Fayette, Klank Manufacturing Co. and Sterling Silver Mnfg. Co. (The) Starting in Dec. 1892 the business was owned by Chas. Stieff and several partners (Stieff & Partners were not silversmiths, but a businessmen)

We are assuming that Geo. Klank was the silversmith working at the business in these early years.

The next available directory is 1900 and Geo. H. Klank is not listed as owning or managing a business or as having a residence in Baltimore.

Stieff would introduce a Hand Chased pattern in 1915 called PRINCESS. Interestingly, over the years the pattern would be called by some in Baltimore and the silver business as “Hand Chased Rose” but as we know, that name belonged to Schofield.

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Baltimore businessman, Charles C. Stieff, had been in the silver & cutlery wholesale/retail business for many years. Charles Stieff represented International Silver Co. through out the south and had a business called The Charles C. Stieff Co. located in a building owned by his father at 17 N. Liberty Street in Baltimore.

Stieff became the receiver of Geo. Klank’s failed

Klank Manufacturing Co. which only lasted 9 months.

In December 1892, The first location of Stieff’s silver manufacturing business, which at the time was called

The Florence Silver Company, was located at 110 W. Fayette Street in Baltimore.

This is the address of the former Klank Manufacturing Co. with George H. Klank Mngr.

A few blocks away at what is now called Conrad Klank & Sons, are Conrad, his brother Fred W., and George H. Klank Jr., who was the son of George H. Klank.

In the 1900 Polk Directory we now find Charles C. Stieff as the manger of what is now called The Baltimore Sterling Silver Co. Factory is at 318 Cider Alley. It also finds a George H. Klank as a silversmith, but no company listed.

Generally, the company name was given for managers or owners

In 1905, The failed Conrad Klank & Sons company would be sold to silversmith Heer-Schofield. Interestingly Frank Schofield had been an employee of Charles Stieff in the silver factory in the 1899 -1903. Schofield had started his own business in 1903, and teamed up with Heer in 1905

OK, where is all of this taking us?

When George Klank failed, the company that eventually became Balt. Sterling Silver Co.(STIEFF) got the dies to make the pattern. As the dies would have originated with the Klank family, some dies ended up with Schofield when they bought the remains of Klank in 1905. Herr-Schofield called the pattern “Hand Chased Rose” which is a misnomer as it was die stamped, and not hand chased.

In the Baltimore silver trade, they call this pattern “Channel Back” as it often has a large “channel” down the back of the piece to make the silver lighter and more affordable as it would be cheaper to make. The Balt. Silver Co. / Stieff marked pieces above are mostly not channeled but have solid backs. There are some examples of the pattern with a channeled back marked STIEFF.

Baltimore Sterling Silver Co. and Stieff called the pattern BALTIMORE.

Herr-Schofield keep the pattern in the line for decades as Hand Chased Rose. More than likely Stieff dropped the pattern since the exact same pattern was being produced by Herr-Schofield. The pattern name appears in a Baltimore Sterling Silver Co. price list from 1904 does not appear in the 1910 Stieff Catalog.

While the various members of the KLANK family were making the pattern it in the 1890‘s, it had debuted as a hand chased pattern and the name “Hand Chased Rose” would be appropriate at this time. In the early 1880‘s the Klank’s would switch to a die stamped pattern, abandoning the time intensive hand chased version. The Hand Chased Rose name would continue to be used after the switch to die production.