1913 The art of Silversmithing booklet
In 1913, The Stieff Company issued a booklet titled
“The Art of The Silversmith”
Below are scans of that booklet from my personal collection of Stieff publications.
The inside front cover is blank,and the same color as the front cover.
I have not reproduced the inside cover.
First page. Note that in 1913 Liberty Street was still called McLane Place.
The City of Baltimore’s own DPW 1914 maps show the street as Liberty Street again.
Charles Stieff will turn over the reins of the company the next year, 1914, to his son Gideon.
311 West German Street was built for The Stieff Company in 1912-1913.
(To see the actual invoice to built this 3 story building.. click below)
1912 Invoice for German Street building.
These look like far better digs than the Cider Street location which was only a few blocks away.
In 1918 the German Street name would be changed to Redwood in honor of the first Maryland soldier killed in the “Great War” This was at a time when there was a lot of anti-German sentiment in America and Baltimore as well. Remember, the Stieff’s were from Germany.
If you look at the photo from 311 German Street, you can see the windows of this room
at the third floor level. It is a bit hard to see here, but the pieces being chased are sitting on several bags of sand. This helped hold the piece in place while the delicate work was done.
From other catalogs we know this piece to be the “Fruit or Punch Bowl”
10.5 x 9.25 inches
These next few pages get a bit “dark” language wise in condemnation of the
modern ways of making silver.
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The inside back cover and the back cover of the booklet are blue in color.
I have chosen not to include these blank pages in this posting.
