www.925-1000.com

Very subjective question, but I was just curious. I've collected quite a few German pieces by now, nothing spectacular, but always very interesting, especially the Hanau ones. When someone asks who's the best carpenter in British history, I would answer Chippendale. Was there someone like that for silversmiths in Germany? Just curious. Thank you!

Hi Allseasons
I am sure you would get many differing opinions on this question,depending on the time period you are talking about.

In Hanau late 1800-1900. the top companies are said to have been J.D Schieissner,Neresheimer,Georg Roth.

Although not German (Austrian) my top pick would be Hermann Ratzersdorfer (1867-1872) some of the carved rock crystal and enamel work created by the company was mindbogglingly (if there is such a word) good, and the craftsmanship was spectacular.
Of coarse most of these firms created objects ,that were made in the 1650-1750,or earlier by many very good German Silversmith of that period.

Christol Ritter 11 ,1577-d1616.Eustachius Hohman 1582-d1612,Tobias Kramer 1582-1613.died 1634. There were I am sure may more talented silversmiths.

These early silversmiths works , from Nuremberg ,would be mainly in museums.

Regards Guido.

Wenzel Jamnitzer
Regards

Hello, why exclude more recent masters ? Reinhold Vasters (also a brilliant forger), Richard Garten, Alexander Schönauer, Adolf v. Mayrhofer, Josef Wilm, Robert Fischer, Werner Bünck, Ulla Mayer - to name just a few... Regards, Bahner

Thank you for all the replies. I looked up some of these masters online, and they all look very interesting, but I would have to say that Reinhold Vasters really piqued my interest with his life story. I guess my follow-up question is: Which of these masters, if any, whose works would a layman like me with limited means ever have a chance of acquiring? I have a couple of Neresheimer and Georg Roth pieces, but that's about it.

Cheers!

German Renaissance silver is beyond the scope of an ordinary collector.
Have you searched for e.g. Louis Kuppenheim enamelled pieces ?
Regards

AG2012 wrote:German Renaissance silver is beyond the scope of an ordinary collector.
Have you searched for e.g. Louis Kuppenheim enamelled pieces ?
Regards

Thank you for the suggestion. I looked him up, and his work looks very interesting/nice; still a little spendy, though. Just out of curiosity, is silver enameling in vogue right now?

(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )