Gilbert Marks Silver Trinket Dish, 1899

This is a very rare and very beautiful silver dish made by the highly sought after arts and crafts maker, Gilbert Marks.

The dish would probably have been made for holding trinkets on a dressing table, however could be used for all manner of purposes. It is superbly hand-made and has a nice solid feel in the hand - it just feels and looks so good!

An additional bonus is the Gilbert Marks signature to the edge with the date 1900 (n.b. date letter "d" was from May 1899 to May 1900) and a very clear set of hallmarks. A superb silver dish in fabulous condition (n.b. there is a noticeable, but not significant scratch across the inside).

Gilbert Leigh Marks (1861-1905) was one of the first silversmiths to consciously renounce industrial manufacture in favour of making by hand.  Although he seems to have had little to do with the Arts and Crafts movement he shared many of its ideals. The importance of his work lies in the outstanding quality of its chasing. In a short career cut short by ill health, he is known to have only produced between only 700 and 800 pieces - most of them in silver. His earlier pieces were almost entirely dedicated to the perfection of chasing floral motifs. 

"The man who buys the stock plate is buying useful articles but not unique ones, whereas he who commissions an original work upon which the craftsman has bestowed his best personal labour is buying a work of art, the money value of which increases with an increase of reputation that may come to the artist". (Gilbert Leigh Marks speaking in an interview with The London Art Journal in 1898).

See `The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths, Jewellers & Allied Traders, 1838-1914` vol. I, by John Culme pages 312-13 for more information.