Chester Billing Tray/Dish

[kozy845]

I have a beautiful dish marked Chester Billings and Son. I have never owned a piece marked as such and all I could find on them is that they were a Jeweler in NYC and went bankrupt after 70 years in business, I'm not sure what year that was. The dish is comparable in quality to Black, Starr and Frost, Shreve, BBB, or JE Caldwell. Does anyone have any idea who made their holloware?

[admin]

Apparently they were fine jewelers that retailed to the carriage trade. I've found pieces on the net bearing their mark alongside both Gorham & Redlich marks, one with a Gorham Martele mark.
On pieces with only their retail mark and no maker's mark, one did have a Whiting date code mark.
I would not be surprised if all three of the firms, and others, produced for them without branding the pieces.
also found - "CHESTER BILLINGS & SON, Diamonds, Precious Stones and Diamond Jewelry Successors to Randel, Baremore & Billings 58 NASSAU ST"

Regards, Tom

[silverly]

Chester Billings was born on 8 May 1829 in Casenovia, New York. Here's a 1910 New York Times article that tells quite a bit about Chester Billings & Sons:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-fr ... 946196D6CF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And as a by the way, this firm also a had a London location at 22 Holburn Viaduct.

[dognose]

Chester Billings & Son - New York - 1905

Trev.