Скачать или смотреть Glimpses of the Goldsmith Trade: in Barbados During the long Eighteenth Century

During the long 18th century, profits from the sugar industry in Barbados resulted in a local demand for European luxury goods, with Bridgetown’s natural harbour becoming a key trading hub in the region. The prospering planters and merchants furnished their homes both for comfort and to display their wealth. Travellers’ accounts of hospitality and surviving probate inventories evidence the fact that silver was part of this endeavour. While imported wares dominated the retail market, Bridgetown also became home to numerous working goldsmiths and jewellers. These artisans were engaged in manufacturing new wares (when supplies from Europe were interrupted) and repairing worn or damaged pieces. The present study uses archival and genealogical sources to explore how the Barbadian goldsmiths’ trade operated during the long 18th century, who the artisans were, and how they marketed themselves. So far, over 100 members of the trade have been identified between 1688 and 1815. Comparison of this register of workers to a group of previously unattributed silver objects (each marked with its makers’ initials) has allowed for tentative attributions to Barbados of several surviving pieces.