The Colonial Silversmith: His Techniques & His Products by Henry J. Kauffmanis a 176-page hardcover published by Galahad Books, 1969. The dust jacket has numerous chips, tears and discoloration but is intact. The book is slightly cocked but is clean, the pages are unmarked and the binding is tight.
The silversmith for centuries has been one of the most skilled of craftsmen, as his art in museums and private collections throughout the world clearly testifies. In Colonial America silversmiths produced innumerable objects of great merit--John Coney's superlative Monteith Bowl stands beside the elegant simplicity of the Richardsons' work in Philadelphia. Throughout the colonies artisans crafted everyday articles with great care and skill.
The products of colonial period are well known, but there is little authoritative research on the actual techniques of the silversmith. Henry J. Kauffman here fills this gap in his study of the methods of the craftsman. With graphic explanation he describes the tools and the techniques used by colonial artisans in fashioning the wide variety of silver objects that today are so highly prized by collectors. Photographs of the finished products together with detailed illustrations of the step-by-step fabrication of individual objects supplement the text. The author explains thoroughly the silversmith's transformation of a blank of metal into a finished work of art.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-90836
