"An air of originality and great richness": the professional and private papers of silver designer Charles Osborne, 1871-1920
Date
2001
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Mystery surrounds most silver designers of the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries. As large, mechanized manufactures replaced small, independent silversmiths, firms rendered individual designers nameless as it promoted its name, not its designers' names. Charles Osborne designed silver for Whiting Manufacturing Company (1871-1878, 1888-1915) and Tiffany & Company (1879-1887). His papers, in the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Museum, provide a crucial opportunity to individualize the anonymous role of Amercan silver designers at this point in history. When considered with the history of silver production, design, and innovation, Osborne's story affords another means of understanding artists and the design process. Osborne's papers provide insight into design and production, and they reveal the individuality of each design. This paper utilizes Osborne papers, patent records and information from Tiffany and Company archives to situate Osborne historically and to evaluate the importance of silver, and silver designers, in America.