With more than 2400 marks illustrated and brief histories and cross-references of more than 1600 manufacturers, this is the most comprehensive reference source on the subject. To compile the information presented here, the authors devoted much time over several decades researching numerous sources. These include various editions of Trademarks of the Jewelry & Kindred Trades, U.S. Patent Office records, city directories, census records, newspapers,...

In view of all the things that could happen to silver in that long period, it is remarkable, if not phenomenal, that any silver of local origin is still in existence. As a matter of fact, only a few pieces of seventeenth century English silver, and none of South Carolina during that period, have thus far been found in South Carolina. The names of the silversmiths and jewellers are themselves not easy to recover. No doubt a great number of them will...