Regency Economy: Jewellery in Birmingham

NO 41 JEWELLERY BIRMINGHAM It would be a week's work to go through Birmingham and see only here and there one of the principal manufactories Some of them are of larger articles where furnaces and steam engines are continually crackling and thumping Some of them are of smaller things where the value arises not from quantity but from beauty and nicety of workmanship Bir mingham wares are famous all over Europe no nation excels them in value or ingenuity All sorts of japanned wares tea boards & c optical instruments cutlery & c are made in great perfection Iron steel and brass are here wrought up in every shape At present we shall confine ourselves to the shops of jew ellery and in these the description is little the sight is the grand gratification Jewellery properly speaking is the making up of jewels but as they require gold and silver for setting so all work in little ornamental things in silver and gold has the name of jewellery although there may be no precious stones in them The proper object of the jewellers being precious stones it may be proper to specify that they are substances found in the earth either by digging in the bowels of the mountains or by searching in rivers which descending from mountains wash many of those gems down with their streams The principal of them is the diamond which when cut and polished is a stone perfectly colourless and transparent of extreme hardness by which it takes a most perfect polish and this perfect polish reflects the rays of light with great splendour Stones are generally set that is placed in a gold casing For a diamond the inside of this case is blacked as the reflection from the cut and polished face of the dia mond is more brilliant than from any metal however polish ed it may be Rubies are a stone something similar in sub stance but of a bright and deep red colour The sapphire is blue the topaz is yellow the emerald green chrysolite yel lowish green amethyst purple and the garnet a deep red Some stones accounted gems are but slightly transparent as opal cornelian lapis lazuli & c And although quite different in substance and formation yet as truly belonging to IRON FORGE Colebrook Dale 97 the jeweller we must mention pearls which are in fact drops of the same matter as form the inside of the oyster shell that is one of the species living in the warm climates called the pearl oysters It is the business of the lapidary to cut into shape and pol ish these gems or precious stones which is done chiefly by grinding them on a wheel with diamond powder It is then the business of the jeweller to put them up either separate or together in various shapes as rings broaches bracelets & c As the jeweller has much to do with gold either alone or as setting for precious stones we may watch him at his work In some instances the figure is cast in a mould to the shape wanted or nearly so then it needs only clearing and polish ing to finish it Sometimes the bar of gold is drawn out into wire in the same way as was shewn with brass wire for pins No 8 Then he flattens the wire by making it pass be tween a couple of steel rollers which go with great force He cuts this into the lengths suitable and shapes them more nicely with fine files He solders the several parts together melting the solder with the blow pipe which is a small bent pipe through which he blows the flame of a lamp close down on the part he would melt which comes with a degree of heat much more ardent than the mere flame would afford At last he polishes his work with whiting or with a fine kind of emery called rouge applied with a fine brush or a piece of leather The articles are then laid in cotton wool wrap ped up in delicate white paper and become fit to shew to a lady Taylor, I. (1826). Scenes of Wealth, Or, Views and Illustrations of Trades – Manufactures – Produce and Commerce: For the Amusement and Instruction of Tarry-at-home Travellers : with 68 Copperplate Engravings. United Kingdom: London, published by Harris and Son. Hartford, re-published by Oliver D. Cooke and Company.

We are sharing this snippet about jewellery manufacturers in Birmingham as part of a reader request to understand more about jewellery in the early 19th century.  Consider this an introduction (mostly to us) about the jewellery industry in the era, through the lens of a tour in Birmingham.

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