The Robert Barker collection of Jamaican silverware at NMS
Resource type
Magazine article
Creator (person)
Vullinghs, Georgia
Date published
June 2025
Abstract
In 2021, National Museums Scotland were bequethed Robert Barker's collection of Caribbean-made silverware. The group of 57 pieces dates from the 1740s to 1770s and is predominantly from Jamaica. Some of the items are hallmarked with the alligator-head of the Jamaica assay office, (as identified by Barker), which regulated silver- and goldsmithing on the island. The office was established in 1747, after petition by two Scottish silversmiths who had emigrated to Jamaica earlier in the decade, Charles Allan and William Duncan. Their marks are represented in the collection, alongside 10 other makers and masters: Anthony Danvers, Charles Wood, Solomon Saldana, Gerardus Stoutenburgh, Abraham Josephs, George Heatherington, James Turner, Archibald Campbell, John Roxburgh, Abraham Kipp, Andrew Charles Williamson, George Clinton. Louis Dupont, a French Huguenot working in Saint-Domingue, extends the collection beyond the one island.
Journal title
The Silver Society: The Newsletter of the Silver Society
Publisher
The Silver Society
Related URL
Rights statement
In Copyright