The 1926 Stieff Catalog
1926
At the time of this catalog, Stieff was still a mainly mid-Atlantic company. A large Stieff catalog like this one would have been been a source of excitement in certain social circles, just as the arrival of the Sears catalog was in small town USA. Those in the metro Baltimore area could come into the Stieff showroom to place an order. M’lady would be shown samples of a pattern, and then ordered from the catalog the exact pieces that she needed to impress her friends. When her silver arrived, perhaps she would then have had a tea party or dinner to show off those new items.
The Catalog is 9.25 inches wide and 12.5 inches tall.
To keep the historic perspective I have presented the photos showing the full pages and their condition. Some pages of the catalog have weathered the years better than others. Some are stained, creased or have aged darker as the acids in the paper have made them more brittle. Few of these catalogs exist, and I am preserving this one here for those of us with an interest in the silver of The Stieff Company.
The pages have been photographed rather than scanning as bending and manipulating the catalog to fit into the scanner could have damaged it.
Photos do have a small arc from being photographed.
has graciously loaned me this Stieff Catalog.
I find this catalog amazing as it bridges the gap between high Victorian fashion to that of the late 1920’s deco. One must imagine that by the time the 1930’s rolled around that the demand for Victorian style must have been ebbing.
Many of the items shown in this catalog are gone when the 1937 catalog came out.
Patterns like Victoria and Chrysanthemum did not appear in the 1920 catalog and have long been discontinued by 1926.
This 1926 Catalog soldiered on until the 1937 catalog came out. Some pieces were included in the catalog we falling out of fashion as time went on.. and regular production ended. Because of this, Some photos in the catalog have been rubber stamped by hand, in blue ink:
MADE TO ORDER ONLY
PRICE BY APPLICATION
The Great Depression was also a factor in this as larger more expensive pieces were rarely ordered and would have been subject to special order. As Stieff kept the silversmiths on payroll during the lean years you can bet that a special order got fast attention and expert detail was given to them.
I find that there are some errors in the catalog and I have tried to point those out where I see them They are mostly situations where a particular pattern is shown and for some reason one of the pieces is of a different pattern, but not referenced.
Perhaps the creator of the catalog used “place holders” until a correct photo could be taken, but then forgot to replace the item, and the mistake was not noticed by whom ever was in charge of catalogs at The Stieff Company.
And now... Thanks to
We present the 1926 Stieff Catalog
Click on the links below to see those pages.
1920‘s Catalog Pages 1-10
If you have any Stieff Silver materials that you would like to present to the silver world.
Please contact me.
