ANTIQUE SILVER PAUL STORR
In the same way that Paul De Lamerie dominated 18th century gold and silversmiths, so Paul Storr was the most prominant silversmithing artist and craftsman of the Regency period, approximately 100 years later. His pieces are considered to be of the finest standard. When his items come up for sale, they command high prices and have proved to be a very good form of investment.
Paul Storr, the son of Thomas Storr, a silver chaser, was apprenticed in 1785 to Andrew Fogelberg. In 1792 he entered his first mark in partnership with William Frisbee but within months registered his own hallmark, and by 1796 he had set up a workshop in Air Street, London. It was in these workshops that the first really important piece of his career was produced. Commissioned by the Duke of Portland for his sons christening, a large gold font (dated 1797) weighing 245 troy ounces.His earliest works were in a restrained neoclassical style, but such was the quality of his work that soon after 1800 he began working, apparently exclusively, for Rundell Bridge and Rundell - the royal goldsmiths, after which his work was executed in the firm's elaborate house style. Another very important piece of note was the Battle of the Nile Cup, made as a presentation to Nelson, bearing a date letter for 1799, and weighing 238 troy ounces.
In 1801 Storr married a childhood friend, Elizabeth Beyer, who was to bear him ten children, who in turn were to provide him with an amazing 54 gandchildren!
In 1811 he became a partner of Rundell's and moved his workshops to Dean Street. Orders for presentation and ceremonial silver from corporations and distinguished families began a prolific period in his career and many important items of high quality were made. He left the firm in 1819 and turned to the execution of more naturalistic designs. A partnership started in 1822 with John Mortimer, a Bond Street retailer, was far from financially or temperamentally ideal but was maintained until 1838, when Storr retired to Tooting, where he lived until his death.