Fruit knife, silver, made by Frances Higgins, London, 1873-4

Knife, silver, with a cast, twisted handle with further cast decoration on each twist consisting of fruit and flowers alternating with strapwork. There is a panel of stamped decoration on either side of the blade near the handle. There is a reserve at the top of the handle which is engraved with a monogram. The knife is a fruit knife.

Purchased with the Assistance of the Friends of the National Libraries

The knife handle is illustrated in 'The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the 1851 Exhibition' in 'The Industry of All Nations' section on p.27 but WH Rogers is not mentioned as the designer. Mr Higgins is stated to be the maker. The following text refers to the work of Higgins:

'The silver works of Mr Higgins of London, are such as come within the province rather of a spoon and fork manufacturer than of a maker of silver plate. From his very numerous contributions we select several, chiefly, commending these designs which are taken exclusively from natural objects; and we may remark that the articles which Mr Higgins exhibits, as specimens of his best ordinary production, are worthy of more public attention than such as have been prepared expressly for the present occasion.

The first group on the present page are two KNIFE -HANDLES...'the second of silver, with ornaments of a conventional character; both are distinguished by considerable elegance.'

Historical significance: This silver knife is part of the W.Harry Rogers Archive and to quote the information on the archive provided by 'RW' on 6 February 1998 on the registered file 1997/1476:-

'It is extraordinarily rare to have this kind of documentation at this level of production for the middle decades of the 19th century. The fact the (sic) the state of the designs ranges from rough sketches to finished drawings and proofs allows the pieces to document the design process very closely.'

To quote John Culme from his 'The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths, Jewellers & Allied Traders 1838 - 1914 From the London Assay Office Registers' Volume I:-

'During the 1840s Francis Higgins commenced to manufacture table silver of a highly decorative nature which, in 1848, was lavishly praised by the 'Art-Union.' 'The same report was pleased to note that Higgins had put into production sugar tongs, cherubs clinging to leafy fronds, after a design by W. Harry Rogers which had been published in the 'Art-Union' some months before.'

'W.H. Rogers is also noted to have supplied a design for a silver caddy spoon, the handle cast as the leaves of a tea-plant, made under the aegis of Felix Summerly's Art Manufactures in 1848 by the workshops of Benjamin Smith, Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields (ILN 25.3.1848 pp.203/4, Illus).'

'It is tempting to attribute some of Higgins's other designs of this period to W.H.Rogers, but without further evidence this remains impossible. Besides, the type of naturalism favoured by the firm (Francis Higgins & Son Ltd), successfully shown at the Great Exhibition and at the Dublin Exhibition of 1853, was not new; Higgins may simply have been working in one of the current styles first made popular by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell some twenty years before.'

It is possible that WH Rogers designed this knife but it is illustrated in 'The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the 1851 Exhibition' on p.27 and only Francis Higgins is referred to without mention of WH Rogers. The lack of a reference to Rogers makes the attribution impossible without further evidence.

E.1150-1998