Help identifying mark on sterling vase and flowers

[FluffyGreens]

I've been unable to identify the silversmith of this small sterling vase with flowers, looks like PD to me. Thanks for any help!

[silvermakersmarks]

Welcome to the forum.

The hallmark is a London mark with what looks to me like the date letter M for 1986. Unfortunately there are no comprehensive references for post-1914 London makers' marks and PD is one of the not-known marks. The London Assay Office will of course have full records and for a positive identification you will have to contact them directly. Their web site is at https://www.assayofficelondon.co.uk/

If you do follow this course of action and get an identification it would be appreciated if you could let us know.

Phil

[FluffyGreens]

Thank you very much for the information and advice, Phil. I've sent an enquiry to the Assay Office and I'll be happy to share any information they're able to give.

[FluffyGreens]

Hello again,

A kind person at the Assay Office informed me it's the mark of Pauline Gainsbury.

[dognose]

Pauline Gainsbury was the wife of Peter Gainsbury, the former Director of Design & Technology of the Goldsmiths’ Company who died in 2007.

Below is his obituary:

The death of Peter Gainsbury on Monday 22 January 2007 at the age of 84 is noted with considerable sadness. Peter was not only a former senior officer of the Company but also a Liveryman and did much to establish the reputation of the Goldsmiths’ Company in jewellery manufacturing technology.

Before Peter Gainsbury joined the Company, the main effort had been directed primarily towards the ‘artist craftsman’ aspect of the trade and it was Peter who was given the brief to widen its influence. He established contact with the manufacturing trade, a policy that remains a solid foundation for the Company’s wider activities today.

He joined the Company in 1966 as Development Officer, becoming Director of Research in 1973. In 1981, following a reorganisation, he became
Director of Design & Technology until his retirement in 1988. Peter’s brief was ‘to drag the trade into the twentieth century’. In his twenty-two years at the Company he worked tirelessly and by the 1990s it was generally acknowledged that he had, to a considerable extent, succeeded. He had earned a formidable worldwide reputation for himself through his extensive knowledge of technical matters relating to precious metals and fabrication techniques.

Peter recognised the need for a more scientific approach to jewellery technology by the industry and involved Mark Grimwade (then at Sir John Cass) in a series of seminars on the metallurgy of jewellery, many of which were later published in Aurum and Gold Technology magazines. He instigated the production of the Goldsmiths’ Company Technical Reports and the TAC News. This knowledge was summarised in his excellent chapter, Jewellery Investment Casting, in the book Investment Casting, edited by PR Beeley & RF Smart, published in 1995 by the Institute of Materials, London. This included a history and review of investment casting and the casting machine technologies, as well as detailing current practice.

Peter was also responsible for the encouragement of excellence in design, promotional activities and exhibitions, including the ‘blockbuster’ exhibition 'The Jewellery of René Lalique', in which visitors were seen queuing round the Hall during the entire exhibition.

A man of considerable energy, talent and merit, he did much to enhance the standing of the Company, both at home and abroad. His contribution to advancing the technological quality of the UK jewellery industry is without question. He will be greatly missed.

Source: The Goldsmiths' Company Technical Bulletin No.5 - April 2007


'PD', perhaps a maiden name registration?

Trev.

[AG2012]

Hi,
They experimented with Titanium and Niobium metals.
I think the flowers posted here are made of Niobium.
http://www.reflectionandrefraction.co.uk/gainsbury.html
Coloring process is very complicated chemical reaction, not enameling.
Regards

[silvermakersmarks]

Pauline Gainsbury's maiden name was Drury - hence PD, rather than PG. And a big thanks to FluffyGreens for posting the information.

Phil