Thomas Smith & Son

Thomas Smith & Son, Manufacturing Silversmiths, Electro-platers and Gilders, 25 and 31, Queen Street.—

    Nowhere in Glasgow does the ancient and notable craft of the manufacturing silversmith, coupled with the more modern art industry of the electro-plater and gilder, receive a more complete and creditable representation in all its branches than at the well-known establishment of Messrs. Thomas Smith & Son, in Queen Street. This eminent house, whose career has been attended by continuous success from the very first, was founded in 1851 by Mr. Thomas Smith, who died in December, 1886. In 1853 Mr. Smith assumed his son as partner, and this gentleman, the possessor of a thoroughly sound practical training in the business with which his father’s name has become so closely identified, is now the sole principal of the house, and administers all its affairs in a manner well calculated to sustain its long-established prestige. The Queen Street premises comprise a fine, commodious shop, with an excellent window frontage, and in the rear of this establishment are spacious workrooms, employing upwards of fifty craftsmen of the highest executive skill.

    Messrs. Thomas Smith & Son are actively engaged in each of the following branches of industry and art-work in the precious metals :—electroplating in gold, silver, nickel, brass, and copper ; the manufacture of all kinds of silver and electro-plate; the making of silver spoons, forks, &c. ; the manufacture of the well-known Napierian coffee machine, an admirable apparatus for the proper preparation of coffee, invented by the late Mr. J. R. Napier, whose family name is so familiarly associated with the great shipbuilding and engineering business at Govan ; the execution of every style of engraving, and of all manner of repairs and alterations in silver plate and electro-plate of every description, this latter work being done on the premises by experienced and thoroughly competent workmen.

    The firm are also agents for R F. Mosley’s celebrated table cutlery, of which they hold a complete stock ; and are extensive dealers in antique silver plate of all kinds. In each of the independent industries they exemplify Messrs. Thomas Smith & Son enjoy a reputation of the highest order, and have been entrusted with the execution of a great deal of important work by distinguished patrons all over the country. The manner in which they have carried out their every undertaking of this kind speaks for the splendid capacity of their house to accomplish the finest and most artistic work. They made the beautiful silver casket recently presented to Sir John Stirling-Maxwell of Nether-Pollok, on the occasion of his coming of age ; and also the gold casket presented to Lord Hartington by the Barrow Corporation. They are now making an elaborate silver key, with full coat of arms of the Marquis of Bute, which will be presented to that nobleman on the occasion of the opening of the new Athenaeum. The firm have also made many fine national shields and trophies ; and, indeed, the mere enumeration of their achievements in these notable respects would fill many a written page.

    Messrs. Smith & Son have occupied their present Queen Street premises for the past sixteen years, coming here from Dunlop Street ; and in the showroom at this address they make a display of high-class silver and plated goods and of various articles in art metal-work which quite silences comment, and must be seen to be adequately appreciated. Few firms have met with a more general recognition of their skill and capacity than the one here under notice ; and it is but scant justice to attribute to Messrs. Thomas Smith & Son a renown and reputation unexcelled in the branch of trade and craftsmanship they so worthily represent. Their productions of every class and kind have met with widespread and quite uncommon favour, and their exhibition honours have been of the most eminent order, including highest awards at the Glasgow Exhibition of 1865-66, and at the Edinburgh International Exhibition of 1886. That these successes have been fully deserved will not be questioned by anyone who has had the distinct pleasure and privilege of inspecting such an array of superior silver work as that shown at the headquarters of this thoroughly representative Glasgow house.

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