A new way of experiencing the old At The American Silver Museum
A new way of experiencing the old At The American Silver Museum
A new way of experiencing the old At The American Silver Museum
Too often we move quickly through a museum
and never enjoy the details of the presented works.
With our online museum, you can linger as
long as you like.
The American Silver Museum:
an online experience.
An online gallery experience At The American Silver Museum
A new way of experiencing the old At The American Silver Museum
A new way of experiencing the old At The American Silver Museum
Our gallery photographs boast some interactive
features. Please click on our gallery photos to enjoy
The American Silver Museum:
an online museum experience!
It's all in the details At The American Silver Museum
A new way of experiencing the old At The American Silver Museum
It's all in the details At The American Silver Museum
Only at The American Silver Museum!
Our online format gives you an
opportunity to see the incredible
detail work of 19th century
American mass production silversmiths.
Meriden Tea & Coffee Service (c.1886)
Model #1971 (c.1886-87)
Included in this gallery are photographs of the artwork in the 1886-87 Meriden Britannia catalogue!
We've devoted an entire page of our website to Tea & Coffee sets. Just click on the button below to navigate directly to that page!
The American Silver Museum – an online museum experience!
The collection being featured this month, is a private collection of Victorian American silverplate. Visit our 'Galleries' for photos and videos. American Silver Museum: an online museum!
America's only online silver museum.
We’re taking a look at what Victorian era artisans achieved with their silver plated canvasses. The value in mass produced, American-made, Victorian era, silver plate, is in the decorations applied to the surfaces that they were given. The designs that were used then, are once again becoming popular. This time, instead of silver canvass, we see the designs being used as tattoo art.
We don’t purchase a Picasso because of the quality of the canvass, we purchase it because of what Picasso applied to the canvass. Although our Victorian silver plating artisans are mostly unknown to us, the value of their work is once again being appreciated.
Thanks for visiting The American Silver Museum!
The American Silver Museum has a mission!
The American Silver Museum is an online museum experience!
The American Silver Museum was founded in May 2019.
It is naïve in its concept and execution and by no means pretends (or intends) to be an encyclopedic look at silversmithing in the United States. We quite literally focus our efforts (and our camera) on the artwork being applied to Victorian American canvases. In this case, the canvas is not fabric – it is a canvas made of silver (specifically silver plate).
A museum showcasing blank canvases that Picasso intended to paint upon would have no value. It is the canvases that Picasso executed his work upon that we go to see. In most silver photography, the camera focuses on the totality of the piece: the total teapot, the large tray, the epergne. We ( The American Silver Museum ) see the teapot, tray, and epergne as a canvas. A canvass that American craftsmen used to express themselves, and memorialize the things that fascinated them, amused them, or intrigued them. They applied flowers, bugs, geometric patterns, gods, and goddesses to their canvases – many times, applying all of the above on the same piece.
Our collections did not reveal the artistic treasures that they held, until we began photographing the collection for another project. The camera soon revealed elements that we had never noticed before. We then attempted several printed prototypes of our photographs. Whether we printed and framed them as wall art, or gathered them for publication in a book – the costs to share the exhibit(s) were prohibitive. Gallery exhibitions required too much space, and the liability issues prevented such exhibitions.
There are extraordinary exhibits of priceless sterling silver pieces in museums throughout the world. Rarely will a museum
or museum visitor take anything more than a glance at the object(s) displayed, and in so doing, they’ve not seen (or enjoyed) the craftsmanship and artistry on display on these silver canvasses.
Too often, a museum experience is marred by group tours interfering with our very personal experience of the collections. Many of the world’s finest artworks cannot be enjoyed because of crowds obscuring a clear view of the exhibition. A bricks and mortar museum is often too arduous for an aging museum audience. Younger museum guests would generally rather be anyplace other than the museum. The American Silver Museum hopes that in its online format, its detailed photograph, and the multiple viewing options that we offer, our visitors will linger longer, look more closely, and in so doing have a more pleasurable museum experience.
We hope that the American Silver Museum inspires our visitors to visit museums large and museums small in their towns, cities, states, and countries. We hope to inspire museum curators to open their vaults to the camera lens so that their treasures can be fully photographed and shared with interested parties without huge expense or liability.
Thank you for visiting The American Silver Museum.
Please visit us often!
Tom Scanlon
Founder/Curator
The American Silver Museum
The American Silver Museum – an online museum experience!