THE DIRECTORY OF CANADA SILVERSMITHS
MARKS AND HALLMARKS OF CANADIAN SILVER
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CANADA SILVERSMITHS - ALPHABETICAL LISTING: S |
There was no official regulation of the purity of the metal used in the industry in Canada until the early 20th century.
After 1760 Montreal gradually took over as the center of silversmithing in Canada although there were also a number of silversmiths in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. English styles became the norm and silversmiths began to use English-style maker's marks with their initials in a rectangular outline. These marks were occasionally accompanied by "Montreal", "Quebec" or "H", "HN" or "HNS" for Halifax.
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By the early 19th century it was common to include pseudo marks that resembled British hallmarks, like sovereign's heads, lions, crowns.
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The current Canadian hallmarking system is based on the Precious Metals Marking Act of 1985. Jewellery makers, importers and retailers are responsible for having the correct hallmarks on items. Hallmarks must be registered by the Register of Trademarks, Industry Canada in which abbreviations and inscriptions for jewellery items in either English or French are permitted.
For silver items, "sterling" (92.5% silver and 7.5% other alloys ) is considered the standard measurement for purity under federal regulations. Authentic sterling silver items are stamped with "STERLING", "STER", or "925". Hallmarks that follow the traditional British certifying system or has applied by the government of any foreign country under the laws of that country may also be placed on the item.
Where an article that is wholly manufactured in Canada is composed of a precious metal of a quality prescribed in the regulations and has an authorized quality mark applied to it, there may be applied to the article a national mark consisting of:
- a lion's head inside a letter "C"( (1934-1978)
- a maple head inside a letter "C" (after 1978)
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(click on the photo to enlarge image)
SILVERSMITH'S NAME
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MARK - TOWN - DATE
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SARGANT S.J.
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Toronto, Ontario c. 1880s |
SARK F.W. & BROS
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F.W.S.&B
Napanee c. 1880s
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SASSEVILLE & ORKNEY
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IS and IO into two squares and pseudo English lion passant hallmark
Quebec City, Quebec c. 1800s/1860s |
SASSEVILLE Francois
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F.S and QUEBEC into two rectangles
Quebec City, Quebec c. 1800s/1860s |
SASSEVILLE Joseph
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Quebec City, Quebec c. 1770s/1830s |
SAUNDERS H & A. Jewellers
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H.&A.S
Toronto and Montreal, Ontario and Quebec c. 1860s/1880s
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SAUNDERS, LORIE & CO
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SAUNDERS, LORIE & CO in a rectangle
Toronto, Ontario c. 1890s/1920s |
SAUNDERS S.A.
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S.A.SAUNDERS in a rectangle
Toronto, Ontario c. 1850s/1900s |
SAVAGE David
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D.SAVAGE in a rectangle and pseudo English hallmarks
Guelph, Ontario c. 1850s/1860 |
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G S without contour and pseudo English hallmarks or SAVAGE in a rectangle and pseudo English hallmarks
Montreal with a branch in Toronto, Ontario c. 1820s/1840s
George Savage (1767-1855), born in Huddersfield, England, was an able wathchmaker. He established his business in Canada c. 1818.
Around 1823 he had a large stock of English Key Wind Lever Watches and was supplied of spoons by Peter Bohle. |
SAVAGE George & Son
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GS&.S in a rectangle and pseudo English hallmarks
Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario c. 1830s/1850s
Partnership of George Savage and his eldest son Joseph Savage.
The firm relailed silverware made by Robert Hendery. |
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SAVAGE over & LYMAN in a rectangle
SAVAGE & LYMAN and English pseudo hallmarks
Montreal with a branch in Toronto, Ontario c. 1850s/1867
Partnership of Joseph Savage and his brother-in-law Theodore Lyman.
The firm relailed silverware made by Robert Hendery |
SAVAGE LYMAN & Co
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SAVAGE over LYMAN &Co in a rectangle and pseudo English hallmarks
Montreal, Quebec c. 1867/1878
Joseph Savage and Theodore Lyman were joined as partners by Henry Birks and Chas. W. Hagar.
In 1878 the firm went into bankruptcy. Henry Birks remained as manager while the assets were liquidated. |
SAVAGE W.H.
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W.H.S
Montreal, Quebec
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SCHINDLER Jonas
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Quebec City, Quebec c. 1760s/1780s |
SEIFERT Gustavus
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G.S in a rectangle or G.SEIFERT QUEBEC or G.SEIFERT STERLING
Quebec City, Quebec active c. 1850s/1930s at 26 Fabrique Street, Upper Town, Quebec
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SHARPLEY RICE & SON
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Montreal, Quebec active c. 1870s/1890 |
SHARPLEY & SONS
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R.SHARPLEY & SONS
Montreal, Quebec c. 1830s/1900s Active at 225 St. James Street, Montreal
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SHARPLEY Rice
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RS and pseudo English hallmarks (rampant lion and bust)
R.SHARPLEY
Montreal, Quebec c. 1830s/1880 |
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SHEFFIELD HOUSE
Quebec City, Quebec c. 1860s |
SILVERWARE PRODUCTS (CANADA) LTD
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S.P. into a shield, in the middle of SILVERWARE PRODUCTS
Toronto 1932-late 1950s founded by Kurt Max Linke (of German origin). Active at 72 Duchess Street and 100-108 River Street, Toronto |
SIMPSON HALL MILLER & Co
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S.H.M.&CO
Montreal, Quebec c. 1870s/1890s
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SMELLIE James
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IS or SI and pseudo English hallmarks
Quebec 1819-1829 |
SMITH Bros.
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S.Bs
Kingston c.1880s
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SMITH S.W.
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S.W.S in a rectangle and pseudo English hallmarks
Guelph, Ontario c. 1860s/1880 |
SPAHN Justin
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J.Spahnn in a rectangle
Fredericton, New Brunswick born 1803 - active 1856 |
SPANENBERG Frederick W.
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F.W.S and English pseudo hallmarks
RW&S STERLING
Kingston, Ontario c. 1870s/1880s
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SPANENBERG George
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S in script
Kingston, Ontario c. 1840s/1870s |
SPANENBERG S.A.
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S.A.S
Kingston, Ontario c. 1880s
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
SPIKE Edmund Lloyd
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ES in a rectangle and pseudo English hallmarks
Halifax, Nova Scotia c. 1830s/1900s |
SPIKE Thomas Daniel
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E&T.S in a rectangle and pseudo English hallmarks
Halifax, Nova Scotia c. 1840s/1920s |
STANDARD SILVER CO
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Toronto, Ontario Succeeded in 1893 to Acme Silver Co. In 1912 merged to International Silver Co of Canada Ltd (1912-1931). In addition to plated holloware they sold Holmes & Edwards flatware and later (eagle) Wm. Rogers (star) plate flatware.
From 1924 the head office was in Hamilton and in 1949 a new factory was built in Niagara Falls. In 1963 they moved to another new factory built in Perth (Ontario). In 1972 International Silver Company sold the entire business to a group who continued production under the name of Heritage Silversmiths.
MONARCH SILVER CO was a division of Standard Silver Co |
STANLEY & AYLWARD LTD
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Essay in scrpt Toronto, Ontario & Montreal c. 1920s using the trademarks ESSAY and NORMAN PLATE |
STEACY T.B.
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T.B.STEACY
Brocksville c. 1860s/1960s
Touch mark acquired by Henry Birks & Sons |
STENNET William
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W.S and English pseudo hallmarks Kingston, Ontario c. 1820s/1840s |
STERLING CRAFT LTD
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S and C interwined in a circle
Toronto, Ontario c. 1920s |
STERN SAMUEL
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Toronto, Ontario c. 1880s |
STERNS Edwin
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Halifax, Nova Scotia c. 1830s |
STHEPANIS Gothelf
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GS in a rectangle
Halifax, Nova Scotia c. 1780s/1790s |
STOUGHTON W.M.
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STOUGHTON into a rectangle
Kingston, Ontario, Canada c. 1825 |
STREET J.
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J. STREET, MONTREAL into two rectangles and pseudo English hallmarks
Montreal, Quebec
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HALLMARKS OF ENGLISH SILVER -
MAKER'S MARK IDENTIFICATION
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BRITISH TOWN MARKS AND DATE LETTERS
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work in progress on this page - your help, corrections and suggestions will be greatly appreciated -
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