Famous Silversmiths #4

dixiesilverminer (58)in #steemsilvergold • 8 years ago

Hester Bateman is recognized as one of the outstanding Artists among Georgian silversmiths. Hester was born in 1708 she had very little formal education. It was suggested that she was actually illiterate, which makes her ultimate business success all the more amazing. Hester married a wire-maker and chain-maker called John Bateman when she was 24. They had six children in a short span of time.When her husband died in 1760, most likely of tuberculosis, at the age of 52 she was left with 6 children to bring up, and a business that she had had no formal training. Surprisingly, John bequeathed the tools of his trade to Hester, this suggests that maybe she was already trained and skilled in the world of making silver. Wire-making is one of the ‘background’ trades and it is the drawing of silver through a narrow gauge plate to produce the appropriate size wire.

Instead of selling the business, Hester not only chose to continue the business on her own but to launch it in a completely new direction. Within a few months of her husband’s death she had registered her initials ‘HB’ with the London Goldsmiths Company. She registered on April 16, 1761.
She operated the business for the next 30 years with her children joining in and she began to make not only silverware but fine serving items from Sterling.

Here are a couple of her works:

Hester is one of the few women registered with the Goldsmiths guild before the turn of the century. You can find some if her work for sale on ebay now http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hester-bateman

Thanks for Reading and Happy Stacking!