The Eden Sterling Company's
Historical Catalogue Series continues to grow. The latest addition
is a 1904 Unger Brothers catalogue reprint that has something for everyone.
Whether you are a collector/dealer in flatware, hollowware, jewelry, novelties
or silver smalls or are a scholar, museum curator or historian
there is something for you in this extraordinary catalogue.
The catalogue shows
Unger Brothers full line of 1904 Art Nouveau silver. The depth and
breadth of items represented demonstrates that Unger Brothers was one of
the largest Art Nouveau American silver manufacturers of the period.
In this 201-page full catalogue reprint, the reader will find more than
3,200 items displayed, including 213 pieces of flatware, 900 pieces of
jewelry, 207 pieces of hollowware and more. The index, which was
compiled by Eden Sterling, summarizes the 3,200 items into 170 very useful
groupings (i.e., brooches, calendars, flasks, flatware, hat pins, puff jars, needle
cases, match safes, ash trays, etc.)
In addition to the
full catalogue, the reader will find a foreword by Ulysses G. Dietz, Curator
of Decorative Arts, The Newark Museum. He discusses the relevance
of this particular catalogue to the recent Newark Museum Jewelry exhibition
and further explains how very special and unique this document really is.
Also included is an excellent and brief history of Unger Brothers by Janet
Zapata, Jewelry Historian.
The original catalogue
was "over sized" 14" x 20" and showed all items "actual size." This reprint
is in a more convenient half size 7" x 10". I am sure that
some will have wished for a full sized reprint but the associated exponential
costs would have certainly made this unique catalogue's retail price too
costly.
The catalogue is soft-covered
and at first glance appears to be "Perfect Bound," leading one to
fear that overuse will cause the pages to come loose and fall out.
However, Ben Randolph, the owner of Eden Sterling, pointed out that
this reprint has a special "Smythe Sewn Perfect Binding." This binding
method stitches the pages together in small sections, and then the sections
are glued to each other and bound to the cover. He assured
me that this will allow for significant use with never the loss of
a single page.
You may have seen or
been lucky enough to purchase a copy of Dorothy Rainwater's long out of
print book Sterling Silver Holloware (published in 1973). Her book
includes only 81 pages of the original 201 original Unger catalog
pages. In her book, the pages have been similarly reduced.
I spoke with Mrs. Rainwater about Eden's catalog reprint. She was
very pleased that the public was now going to have access to the entire
catalog. She enthused about the importance of the Historical Catalogue
Series and is looking forward to future additions to the series.
By now you have come
to realize that I believe this catalog reprint is a significant contribution
to the silver world. To add some objectivity I contacted several
individuals for their comments:
Ms. G., NY (jewelry collector):
"... the catalogue is fabulously complete . . . the printing is well
done so that the designs are clear, and it is an essential resource for
collectors of and dealers in turn of the century silver."
Mr. D., NY (collector/dealer flatware):
"An excellent and much needed reference which illustrates the breadth of
jewelry manufactured by this important silversmith. ......
Very valuable in showing flatware pieces identified by the maker."
Gary Niederkorn, PA (dealer):
"[Unger catalog reprint] is excellent, my only criticism is that it was
reprinted in too small of a format, page numbers and original wording
are hard to read. A few pages are dark, but I am sure that is because
of the size reduction as well. But those are minor flaws, the information
in the reprint in priceless to the dealer and collector."
Arthur & Judith Levitan, CT (collector/dealer):
"This reprint will become a mainstay not only for Unger collectors, but
also for American Art Nouveau sleuths. . . . Just to know the
names of some of the more puzzling pieces is a special contribution of
this publication. .... However, the decision to shrink it fully 50 percent
I believe to be an unfortunate one. .... "
Ms. B., Union, NJ (dealer):
"At first I was sure that the reduced size of the original type was going
to be impossible to read but to my surprise the high quality printing allows
you to clearly read the reduced type size."
Richard Kurtzman, NJ (dealer):
"Some of the items appear a little too dark...... but it is nice to finally
have the whole catalogue. I would have preferred to have it
full size. But on the other hand, the smaller size is easier to take to
shows. Hey! Maybe they should have done it in both sizes —
I would have bought both."
Christie Romero (Author, Warman's Jewelry):
"I . . . find it to be a fascinating resource for historians, dealers and
collectors. The quantity and variety of items made by the firm are astounding.
As a jewelry historian, my only disappointment is that the 50% reduction
in size has made the details of the smaller jewelry items, such as scarf
pins and small brooches, difficult to see. However, I realize the impracticality
of a full size reprint."
Carolyn of Carman's Collectables, NJ (dealer):
"To my surprise, I found the small size of the catalog very convenient
when I had a piece of silver in my hand to identify and verify it as truly
an Unger piece. The magnifier was already in my hand for the actual silver
piece and I could easily use it to find the confirmation in the catalog." |
The importance of this catalogue
should not be minimized. Consider this: the catalog was originally printed
in 1904. By 1910 fashions/styles were changing from Art Nouveau to the
simpler "emerging rectilinear styles." So by 1910 Unger Brothers
had started to discontinue production of most of the items in this catalogue,
and destroyed the dies for these objects. Then, just a few years
later (1916-19), Unger Brothers was out of business. Without
this catalog we might never have the opportunity to appreciate all that
was available from America's leading Art Nouveau silver manufacturer.
Sure, there are a few minor
things that I could criticize, mostly because I might have approached the
reproduction of the catalog a bit differently. But this amounts
to nothing more than a difference of opinion and should not detract from
the contribution this catalogue reprint makes to silverphiles everywhere.
Scott V. Martin is an author, lecturer, and entrepreneur.
Mr. Martin has a BFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the California Institute
of the Arts and is a graduate of New York University's Appraisal Studies
Program in Fine and Decorative Arts. His publications include a silver
exhibition checklist for the Museum of the City of New York, The Guide
To Evaluating Gold And Silver Objects For Appraisers, Dealers & Collectors
and The Book of Silver; Flatware Silver Marks & Patterns.
Mr. Martin was a founding board member and past Secretary of the New York
Silver Society. Currently Mr. Martin is working on new book and is
Vice President of SM Publications.
Contact: SM Publications, 353 West 56th Street, NYC, NY 10019
212-246-5060 |
This article and associated material is protected under international
copyright law, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the expressed written permission
of the author.
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