Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Although little information exists about London silversmith Charles Stuart Harris, his exquisite sterling silverware and serveware — the ornate and distinctive bowls encircled with chased scrolling leaf decoration, the platters featuring Vitruvian scrollwork, the centerpieces with their leaf-capped and scrolled arms he designed as well as those produced by the family firm C.S. Harris & Sons Ltd. — is a testament to an age of refinement and elegance.
Harris was from a family of silversmiths active in London in the mid-19th century. In 1817, the firm now known as C.S. Harris & Sons Ltd. was founded by John Mark Harris, a spoon maker. His son, John Robert Harris, took over the family company in 1843, listed as a silver spoon and fork manufacturer.
Neoclassical-style sterling-silver goods in Europe gained popularity in the late 18th century — a taste for sterling-silver tableware, as well as tea sets, had taken shape — while in the United States, beginning in the 19th century, preparing the dinner table with sterling-silver flatware had become somewhat of a standard practice.
Around 1852, the business passed to Charles Harris, who was registered as an electroplater and gilder, a maker of spoons and forks as well as a silversmith. At first, under Harris, the family firm continued as a manufacturer of spoons and forks; however, they later expanded into making cutlery and flatware.
By 1881, the company was formally registered under Harris’s name — Charles Stuart Harris — and it earned a reputation for its utilitarian flatware. In 1897, when the business became known as C.S. Harris & Sons Ltd., they were listed as manufacturers and dealers in gold and silverplate. By this time, the company produced additional furnishings and objects such as serveware, candle holders and tea caddies. They also retailed in wire and lace, silver and gold diamond jewelry and watches.
It is said that by 1900, C.S. Harris & Sons Ltd. sent more silver to London’s Assay Office to be hallmarked than any other silversmith company. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, Harris retired. In 1933, C.S. Harris & Sons Ltd. merged with I. Freeman and Company.
Today, items produced by Harris remain highly coveted by collectors of Victorian and Edwardian sterling silverware and decorative objects.
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1890s English Victorian Antique Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Britannia Standard Silver
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary American Organic Modern Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Bronze
Late 20th Century Post-Modern Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Iron
1990s English Victorian Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
Late 19th Century British Late Victorian Antique Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Silver Plate
Early 18th Century French Louis XVI Antique Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Silver Plate, Brass
19th Century English Victorian Antique Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Silver, Sterling Silver
19th Century English Victorian Antique Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Silver Plate
1960s English George I Vintage Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
Mid-20th Century American Late Victorian Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Brass
Late 19th Century British Victorian Antique Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Silver
1870s English Victorian Antique Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Britannia Standard Silver
1880s English Victorian Antique Charles Stuart Harris Candlesticks
Sterling Silver
