Skip to main content

Australian Silversmiths - Joachim Matthias Wendt


Australian silver is a lot rarer than its English counterparts. Although produced from the early 1800's, most Australian silver is to be found from the 1880's onwards.  There was no standardised system of hallmarking, but pseudo British marks were often used.  One of the most prolific Australian silversmiths of the second half of the nineteenth century was South Australian, JM Wendt.  

Example One - Wendt Serviette Ring circa 1890

Joachim Matthias Wendt (1830-1917), silversmith, was born on 26 June 1830 in Holstein, Denmark (now part of modern day Germany). He was apprenticed to a watchmaker and learned the silversmith's craft. He migrated to Adelaide in 1854 where he set up as J. M. Wendt, watchmaker and jeweller. The success of his business allowed him to move into a new shop in Rundle Street.
In 1860s and 1870s, Wendt won numerous awards for his work, including first prizes in the Dunedin Exhibition, New Zealand (1864 and 1865) and the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1876.  
Commercial success encouraged him in 1888 to open a further branch at Broken Hill, New South Wales.  
In 1903 his son Julius and stepson Hermann Koeppen-Wendt became partners in the firm and took over its management.  He died on 7 September 1917.
The silverware he produced ranged from large ceremonial pieces through to everyday small domestic items, such as the two serviette rings pictured.

Example Two - Wendt Serviette Ring, circa 1900

His works star in a number of collections of Australian silver (try googling his name to see more).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Women Silversmiths - Dorothy Langlands of Newcastle

Did you know that there have been women silversmiths for hundreds of years?   Women have been noted as silversmiths for hundreds of years.  Widows would often continue on the business of their husbands (often placing their maker's mark in a lozenge) and daughters would enter business partnerships with relatives also in the trade.  Dorothy Langlands was a widow who continued business for 10 years after her husbands death.   For sixty years the Langlands family were the largest manufacturers of silverware in Newcastle, England.   Dorothy Langlands  was the wife of John Langlands II and she took over her husband's business in 1804 when he died. She retired in 1814 and died in 1845.  This means we can date all silver marked with her maker's mark (D.L) to 1804-1814.  This is helpful because a lot of smaller silver items would not have been stamped with the date letter.   Below are two examples of her work.  A nice pair of bright-cu...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's the rarest? Silver from Scottish Provincial towns.

Antique Scottish Provincial silver is one of the most interesting and confusing areas of silver collecting. There were numerous towns that were producing silver in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There were no regulations governing these towns, so each town (or silversmith) came up with their own marks. These were often related to town symbols or coat of arms. It is often the question of rarity that wildly affects the value for these pieces of silver. Below is a table of suggested rarity: Scarce Rare Very Rare Aberdeen Arbroath Cupar Dumfries Ballater Ellon Dundee Banff Fochabers Glasgow (pre-Assay office) Canongate Forres Inverness Elgin Leith Perth Greenock Nairn Iona Peterhead Montrose St. Andrews Paisley Stonehaven Tain Wick This list is published by antiquesilverspoons.co.uk and is based on the research of Richard Turner (who's book, A Directory of Scottish Provincial Silversmiths and Their Ma...
2 comments
Read more