Silversmith

A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms silversmith and goldsmith are not exact synonyms, but the techniques, training, history, and guilds are (or were, at least) largely the same. Being both much heavier and far more expensive, gold objects are typically a good deal smaller. In the ancient Near East (as holds true today), the value of silver was lower than the value of gold, allowing a silversmith to produce objects and store them as stock. Historian Jack Ogden states that, according to an edict written by Diocletian in 301 A.D., a silversmith was able to charge 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, or 300 denarii per Roman pound for material produced. At that time, guilds of silversmiths formed to arbitrate disputes, protect its members' welfare, and educate the public of the trade. From classical antiquity until about the 18th century, while pottery was universally available, it was low status, and the rich used silver domestic plate for eating off, serving food, and a variety of functions such as candlesticks. At the same time, the lack of banks and attractive and stable places to invest spare cash meant that rich families were ready to keep a good deal of their wealth in the form of "plate" in the house. The arrival of porcelain, both imported from the Far East, and later locally produced, finally broke silver's hold on tableware for the rich. Silversmiths saw or cut specific shapes from sterling and fine silver sheet metal and bar stock; they then use hammers to form the metal over anvils and stakes.