There is no register of the makers’ marks applied to silverware in Australia as Australia does not have a hallmarking system.

When the idea came to me in 2002 to document the makers’ marks of contemporary Australian silversmiths, little did I realise what an exciting project I was embarking on. Now, eight years later, my book, Marks on Australian Silver 1950-2005, is published. ISBN 978 0 646 52327 9

The fifty five years covered in this book saw an era of great change in Australia. A few manufacturing companies, which had managed to survive the Great Depression and the Second World War, were essentially the sole silverware producers during the 1950s. Slowly education of silversmiths changed from trade apprenticeships to the domain of the art schools and design schools. The era of the studio silversmith evolved. There are close to 600 marks recorded photographically in the book. These represent the marks of 315 makers and retailers. The vast majority are individual craftsmen; some are retailers; and a few are manufacturing companies. With the freedom of no mandatory marking system, Australian silversmiths have been able to decide if they wished to mark their work and to design their own makers’ marks. Most use their initials or full names, with or without secondary marks. Secondary marks often indicate the home town or State of the silversmith. Some silversmiths only use symbols. In a country of unique fauna it is not surprising to find some represented as makers’ marks, such as the kangaroo, the emu, the platypus and even the dingo’s paw print.

I documented all the marks photographically. This was quite a challenge in itself. Silversmiths were asked to supply me with samples of their makers’ marks on pieces of metal. Some samples were as narrow as 2mm (one thirteenth of an inch). At the opposite end of the scale was a brass plate 126mm square (nearly 5 inches square) supplied by a manufacturing company with all its own marks as well as its retail customers’ marks.

After several years of research, I decided that appropriate information about the makers would be an inclusion in the book which would significantly benefit the reader. This has added 150 pages to the book and turned out to be very worthwhile.

I have also included sixteen pages of colour plates and four pages of black and white images with a total of 60 beautiful silverware objects. One of the B&W pages is a series of images showing the stages of hand raising two beakers from the original flat silver discs.

A glossary of terms is included, as is a recommended reading list and an index.

I trust this book will be useful and interesting for many, not only now but also well into the future as contemporary silverware objects of today become the heirloom treasures of tomorrow.

In the Foreword, Emeritus Professor Ray Stebbins, the inaugural Professor of Gold and Silversmithing at RMIT University, Melbourne states: For the foreseeable future this invaluable compilation of Australian marks on silver will serve as the principal identification resource for connoisseurs, academics, curators and students.