Wallace
Silversmiths Inc. - (en)
Wallace Silversmiths is a major American manufacturer of sterling
silver owned by the Syratech Corporation.
The founder of Wallace Silversmiths, Robert Wallace was born in
Prospect, Connecticut on November 13, 1815, the son of Scottish
immigrant and silversmith James Wallace and his wife Irene (Williams).
The boy had only a limited education, such as sons of the farmers of
that period received.
During the late 18th century, the Wallace family had relocated to the
state of Connecticut.
At the age of 16, Robert Wallace became an apprentice to Captain
William Mix, a renowned spoon maker for the Meriden Britannia Co. A
Meriden Britannia apprenticeship was highly sought after because the
firm was the most successful flatware and hollowware-producing firm in
the Northeast.
Having mastered the art of silver craft, Robert Wallace left his
apprenticeship, purchased a dilapidated gristmill, and began to
produce his own flatware. By 1833, Wallace’s silver shop was up and
running. As Wallace was skilled in the art of spoon making,
Wallace’s only product was spoons.
One day, while shopping in New York City, Wallace happened upon a
piece of flatware made of a nickel alloy called German silver that had
been produced by Dixon and Sons of Sheffield, England. Impressed by
the quality and strength of the piece, Wallace traveled to New York
City, bought the formula from the German chemist Dr. Louis
Feuchtwanger who had a small bar of that metal from Germany for the
then unheard sum of $20 and went on to build these new nickel silver
spoons. Later he found a man who had brought the recipe for making the
metal. Wallace purchased that too. In his factory, he then compounded
the first German silver made in America and pioneered the new industry.
He than moved his factory from Cheshire, Connecticut to a point on the
Quinnipiac River in Wallingford, Connecticut. There he increased his
production of spoons and flatware. When his factory was in Cheshire,
he produced three dozen spoons per day. In Wallingford, he made nine
dozen daily.
Wallace realized the importance of diversifying his business and began
producing a complete range of flatware using the nickel alloy formula.
It is from these humble beginnings that the Wallace Silversmiths were
born.
For the next five decades, Wallace did contract work-producing
flatware for a number of firms throughout the world. Wallace would
sign a contract with a flatware manufacturer and produce a given piece
for a set number of years. Generally, these contracts lasted about 10
years.
The industry continued to grow and eventually assumed large
proportions during this period, Wallace produced flatware for such
firms as Hall, Elton & Co., Fred R. Curtiss Co., and Meriden
Britannia Co. In 1855, Wallace partnered with Samuel Simpson to
produce German flatware. During this period, the company was called R.
Wallace and Co. by this time the business represented an investment of
$12,000.
Later, Wallace would partner with a group of managers with the Meriden
Britannia Co. At this point, Wallace’s company was named Wallace,
Simpson, and Co. by 1865, the company of Wallace, Simpson, & Co.
was worth $100,000. By 1871, Wallace had purchased the balance of his
partner’s shares and Together with two of his sons renamed the
growing company to R. Wallace and Sons Mfg. Co.
The factory added to its products sterling goods and high-grade
nickel-silver plated ware, both flat and hollow. Still later, by
experiment, Mr. Wallace devised a new process of manufacture from
steel. It made a less bulky, firmer, and lighter base for silver
plating.
Also In 1871, Wallace, his sons and sons-in-law formed a new company.
The new company, Wallace Brothers, produced silver plated flatware on
a base of stainless steel. (By 1879, Wallace Brothers was merged with
R. Wallace and Sons Mfg. Co.)
in 1875, Wallace introduced the first three sterling patterns to
feature the esteemed Wallace name - Hawthorne, The Crown, and St.
Leon. These beautiful patterns were soon followed by sterling and
silverplated holloware.
Over the next century, the company continued to grow. Wallace and Sons
Mfg. Co. invested heavily in new machinery and skilled artisans.
As American’s Gilded Age gathered steam, the firm saw continued
success with additional sterling flatware designs, and began producing
both plated and sterling hollowware as well. Its reputation for
quality continued to grow in the early twentieth century, and more
patterns were developed. Years passed and Wallace's reputation for
excellence in silversmithing continued to grow.
Robert Wallace died on June 1, 1892, and the sons and son- in-law
continued the business. It grew to be the largest manufacturer of flat
tableware in the world. At the start of the 20th century, about 3 tons
of steel and 1.5 tons of nickel silver were used daily. The company
opened selling houses in New York and Chicago. The company’s success
brought prosperity to Wallingford.
The 1930s were spent perfecting R. Wallace Mfg. Co.’s mass
production techniques.
Following the company’s aggressive expansion, it released a series
of flatware patterns that would prove to be its most popular. Rose
Point (1934), Sir Christopher (1936), Stradivari (1937), Grande
Baroque (1941), Grand Colonial (1942), and Romance of the Sea (1950)
combine timeless elegance with the quality craft for which Wallace is
known. Each of these patterns remains Wallace’s most popular.
It was with the introduction of the now famous Grande Baroque pattern
in 1941, however, that Wallace truly established itself as the
preeminent name in the silver industry. Sales of this magnificent
three-dimension pattern exceeded even the most ambitious projections
and Wallace was soon growing through acquisition at a remarkable clip.
In 1956 R. Wallace and Sons Mfg. Co. purchased the Watson Company and
relocated to the “The Watson Co.’s” Wallingford, Massachusetts
factory. After the company’s relocation, its name became Wallace
Silversmiths. Shortly thereafter in 1958, purchased both, the Tuttle
Silver Company and Smith & Smith Company.
As a result of this impressive growth, the renowned Hamilton Watch
Company of Lancaster, Penn. acquired Wallace Silversmiths in 1959.
Over the next three decades, the ownership of Wallace Silversmiths
would change three more times.
Wallace Silversmiths remained a subsidiary of the Hamilton Watch
Company until 1983 when the then 150 year-old company was sold to Katy
Industries of Elgin, Illinois.
Finally, Syratech Corporation which also owens Towle Silversmiths
acquired Wallace Silversmiths from Katy Industries in 1986. On April
1st, 1987, Wallace Silversmiths' corporate headquarters were moved
from Connecticut to the East Boston, MA location where it still
resides today and Continues to designs sterling, silverplate, and
stainless steel flatware and sterling and silverplate.
