In the later years of Kirk-Stieff in Baltimore, orders for large custom work were not coming in like they had in years past. However, when these orders did come in the Kirk-Stieff silversmiths were well prepared for the job.

The photo and descriptions below are from Rose Duke, an engraver at Kirk-Stieff in the 1980s and 1990s.

I know in that year I did 2 hand wrought waiters, $20,000 , (see attached pix.) This was a group project: the silversmiths (John Ingram &  Keith, both from England, (I can't for the life of me remember Keith's last name) raised the tray from sheet silver; the silver casting department cast & applied the edge trim & handles (Randy Stacios), the chaser, Nancy Tomlinson, created the chasing; I did the Engraving; Harry Burnham, master polisher, did the final polish. It took about 35 hours to engrave, the amount of silver removed was just short of a troy ounce.)

That was $20,000 per waiter. We were never told customers names.I did several of those waiters between 1990 & 1996, maybe 4-5 of them. They were really unpleasant to do: always rushed, hard on the back because I had to stand to do them & I'm short, so the far side of the tray was a long stretch for me to reach; the metal was very hard from being worked so much, even though it was annealed several times. But it was a big deal to be asked to do them. I never got to sign them either.

If you know someone that worked at Stieff or Kirk-Stieff, and they have a story to tell or pictures to share, please contact me.