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ROBERT JARVIE - THE JARVIE SHOP - THE SHOP OF ROBERT JARVIE - (aka 'The Candlestickmaker')
A topic for recording information regarding the Chicago Metalsmith, Robert Riddle Jarvie (b.1865-d.1941).
If you have any details of the above craftsman, advertisements, examples of his work, etc., anything that you are willing to share, then here's the place to post it.
Hand-Wrought Silver is the product of an art immemorially old. It is, however, little understood. A piece of silver showing hammer marks is not necessarily made by hand.
A hand-wrought silver piece is one which is “formed up” entirely by hand from flat “Sterling” of a suitable thickness. This silver is obtained from a refiner who has melted the raw silver, refined it to 925/1000 pure, and rolled it into sheets. The “forming up” is done over either wooden or metal stakes with wooden mallets and requires an accurate eye and a steady hammer blow. The silver is not hammered over or into metal forms the size of the object being made, as is sometimes supposed.
After the piece is formed the final finishing is done with a planishing hammer over a metal stake, both of which must be highly polished and without any flaw on the surfaces. Scratches or marks of any kind on a finished piece indicate rough tools or bad hammering. The planishing causes the hammer marks. These marks should be flat and fairly symmetrical. A good, steady blow is necessary, so there will be no unevenness. While the hammer marks should be fairly symmetrical, they should not show in even rows. They should, however, overlap one another, leaving no unplanished surface.
Machine-made silver is either stamped out by heavy power punches or spun into shape over forms in a common machinist's lathe, and is usually highly polished. Some of it, however, is planished to give it the appearance of being handwrought.
Inasmuch as the most expensive part of the work is done by the machine, it costs much less to produce this silver, as the original forms are spun up or stamped out in large quantities.
It is almost impossible to duplicate hand-wrought pieces, whereas in machine work thousands can be made from one form.
It should be borne in mind that in order to properly finish a piece of hand-wrought silver it must be planished, whereas in the machine-made pieces the planishing may be added to give the appearance of being hand-wrought.
Also, the machine has its limitations, and when a design is made for this kind of silver it must conform to these limitations. Not so with the hand-wrought work; the artist craftsman can make such designs as he wishes, knowing that by the skill of his hand he can form the piece into the thing he desires to create.
These objects possess greater artistic merit, hence the value of hand-wrought work.
R. R. JARVIE.
Source: An Illustrated Annual of Works by American Artists & Craft Workers - Artists Guild Galleries - Chicago - 1916
THE AERO AND HYDRO GREAT LAKES RELIABILITY CRUISE TROPHY
BIG TROPHY WILL REWARD LAKES CONTEST WINNER
CHICAGO, May 27.-——A.surprise for the eleven contestants entered in the AERO AND HYDRO Great Lakes Reliability Cruise, which will start from Chicago, July 8 and finish at Detroit, was sprung today, when it was announced that a great silver trophy, specially designed for this contest by Robert Jarvie, of this city, will be awarded the contestant arriving at Detroit with the greatest number of points to his credit.
The trophy which is in the form of a covered punch bowl after the, antique Pompeian manner, measures 32 inches in height. The circumference of the bowl with cover removed is 14 inches. The flat base is 13 inches in diameter and the four-sided standard nine inches square.
The AERO AND HYDRO Great Lakes Reliability Cruise trophy will become the permanent possession of the entrant of the winner. Two of the rectangular panels in the base will be reserved for they name of the winner. while two other panels carry out the idea embodied in the cruise poster, of the modern flying boat tourists flying high above the canoe voyagers of centuries ago. Jarvie, the designer, is the same artist who made the AERO AND HYDRO Efficiency Trophy for Hydro-aeroplanes, last year. This trophy won several first prizes when shown at art exhibitions in Chicago, Boston, New York and elsewhere this year.
The Jarvie Shop are incorporated with a capital of $5,000 to manufacture and deal in interior hardware and decorations and publishing; incorporators, Robert R. Jarvie, L. M. Sonders, George Ingersoll.
Source: The Iron and Machinery World - 9th April 1904
The first event of the fall season was the Annual Exhibition of Art Crafts, which was held from October 1 to October 23. Prizes and honors were awarded as follows:
The Mrs. Albert H. Loeb Prize for Silverware, a prize of fifty dollars, was awarded to Mr. Robert R. Jarvie, of Chicago, for an Hydroaero trophy cup. Honorable Mention was given to David Edwards Mulholland for a silver chalice.
Source: Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago - January 1913
Hand-made brass candlesticks and horn lanterns, modeled on old pieces, are shown in a neat booklet from the Jarvie Shop, 608 West Congress street, Chicago. Each design is printed on a separate leaf, and the whole enclosed in a portfolio. Imprint of the Prairie Press, 189 Monroe Street, Chicago.
Robert Jarvie is a designer and maker of gold and silver ware. This work takes the form of trophies, loving cups, punch bowls, and other presentation pieces. It is entirely hand-wrought, of the highest order of workmanship, and each piece is designed especially for the event for which it is intended. His shop is located in the Old Cottage at the Stock Yards, where for more than three years Mr. Jarvie has made many of the trophies given at the big stock shows.
Attention is called to the fact that he is engaged in an endeavor that ought to receive the hearty commendation of all craftsmen and all lovers of craftsmanship. He is trying to emphasize the fact Silver that hand-wrought work does not necessarily stamp an article as being prohibitively expensive.
Mr. Jarvie's work is on display and for sale at The Artists Guild.
Source: An Illustrated Annual of Works by American Artists & Craft Workers - Artists Guild Galleries - Chicago - 1916
The leading workers in hammered and iridescent copper and silverware were well represented. A small but delightful collection of brass candlesticks, a Dutch lantern with horn lights, and smoking sets in pewter being sent by J.(sic) R. Jarvie of Chicago..... .
