| The royal burgh of Cupar is in the county town of Fife, and is the natural focal point for over half the county. Its goldsmiths belonged to the Hammermen's Incorporation, the senior of the eight incorporated trades in the town.
Little work has been carried out in full on the makers of this town with only two being fairly well researched, those two are Robert Robertson & Thomas Lumsden Brown.
Robert Robertson:-
Born 22 July 1793, the son of a tinsmith in Cupar.He served his apprenticeship with his maternal uncle, William Duncan in London .He set up business in Cupar in 1815,stepping into the shoes of George Constable, who sold out to him in that year. In 1817 he moved shop to 35 Bonnygate where the business remained until the death of his son exactly one hundred years later. In about 1857 he took his seventh son , George Brunton Robertson, into a partnership known as R.&G.B.Robertson. In 1834 he had been appointed officer for weights and measures for the county of Fife, an office still held in the family to this day. He was an Episcopalian, a Tory and a lover of music, art and literature. He died of bronchitis on 14th of May 1877.
Thomas Lumsden Brown:-
Born in Leith on the 9th of October 1857, He was trained in Edinburgh and set up his own business in Cupar in 1887. He registered a punch at the Edinburgh assay office on the 10th of July 1889 and used it on both silver and gold. He retired in about 1935, and died in 1953 , aged 96.
Below are a few examples of Cupar silver Hallmarks:-
Dart Silver Ltd would like to express thanks to the Antique Collectors’ Club for their permission to reproduce here extracts and information from Jackson’s Silver & Gold Marks, edited by Ian Pickford.
(© Antique Collectors’ Club 2009) |
