 | Trade
Silver |
Trade Silver
by M. Cornell
Trade Silver is known throughout history for its simplistic, yet complicated beauty. Trade Silver is a relatively simple piece of artistry, yet it has a rare complicated beauty that people throughout time have fallen in love with. What people don't realize is that, trade silver has it's own unique story.
The story starts with the Europeans who came to establish fishing and trading routes as early as the 1500's. Shortly after the Europeans realized the potential of great wealth in commerce with the natives, at first trader traded whatever they had available. But quickly brooches, cloak pins, glass beads, crosses, and Luckenbooth and Masonic pins, in exchange for mostly fur pelts. The trade sliver was finely detailed, high quality sterling silver made by British silversmiths, quickly became popular with the natives for its beauty but also with the voyageurs for its small size, making it easy to carry. The natives, voyageurs, and others in the New World use it to spruce up their clothing, although the natives wore the most because of huge quantities that were used in trade throughout the continent. By the 18th century 25% of the trade was trade silver, almost as sought after as guns, shirts, wool blankets, knives, cooking articles, and gun powder.
During the time span of 1725 to about 1825 the trade silver market flourished. Silversmiths in Detroit, Montreal, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago and other places, made the silver in masses while the demand was high. In this time silversmiths were well trained, creative, and proud artists. They were expected to produce the absolute best in order to please the traders who needed it to please the natives. If they did not their silver would be suspected of being a reproduction or done by a untrained craftsmen. Unfortunately in the early 1800s the demand for silver declined. This happened do to the rapid loss of the beaver population. This animal was one of the most sought after in the fur trade and had been nearly hunted to extinction. For this reason the fur trade moved west, leaving the native population to create their own silver. This silver was often less detailed, do to lack of proper equipment. Also this silver did not see the stages of filing and doming as the European silversmiths had done.
Towards the end of the fur trade era, the silver trade changed once again. This time the common materials were switched to German silver also known as nickel silver (originally discovered around 1835) that was finally available in sheet form around 1850. This name an oxymoron, for German silver contains no real silver, instead it is a cheaper alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc but it does have a shiny surface. This kind of silver is much cheaper and was considered inferior by the natives. Because of its cheap make-up it would not replace sterling silver until after 1850.
The trade silver market has never felt such a boom in business since the mid 1800's. But it is still sought after by re-enactors, Native Americans, and other fur trade era enthusiasts. Though the demand may not be at its peak anymore, Trade silver has never lost its unique beauty.
Bibliography:
http://www.barkingrock.com/catalogd.htm
www.geocities.com/trade_silver/History_of_Trade_Silver.html
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hamilton, Martha Wilson
Silver In The Fur Trade 1680-1820 copyright 1995 by Martha Hamilton Publishing
Chelmsford, MA