Stieff Hollow Ware Price List , October 1933

This list was created while America and the rest of the world was in the depths of the Great Depression. Silver was a luxury and even the rich were conserving money. Silver sales were dismal. The factory had just been doubled in size just 3 years earlier. The Stieff Company’s President, Gideon Stieff kept the factory going and had silver craftsmen doing menial chores like painting the floor and polishing the machinery. He knew that if much of the the work force was laid off, many of them would never come back. When the troubled times were over, he would need those skilled hands again to make silver wares. Those skilled hands would go on to make both silver and goods for the war in just a few short years.

This price list and ephemera are from the Stieff collection of Bob Estes