Mary and Eliza Sumner

Mary and Eliza Sumner were a pair of English silversmiths active at the beginning of the 19th century. Their surname is sometimes given as Summers; Eliza's first name is sometimes rendered as Elizabeth.

Mary Sumner was the wife of plateworker William Sumner I and registered her first mark on 18 March 1807; after his death, her classification was given as spoonworker at the time. A second mark was registered in partnership with Eliza on 31 August 1809; a third mark, also in partnership with her daughter, followed on 21 August 1810. Eliza's classification, too, was given as spoonworker; her marital status was given as single, while her mother registered as a widow. Their address was listed as 1 Clerkenwell Close.[1][2]

Three pieces by the Sumners are owned by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. They are a Regency meat skewer of 1811; a Regency marrow scoop of 1812; and a Regency meat fork of 1814.[1]

  1. ^ a b Philippa Glanville; Jennifer Faulds Goldsborough; National Museum of Women in the Arts (U.S.) (1990). Women Silversmiths, 1685–1845: Works from the Collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-23578-2.
  2. ^ "Mary and Eliza Sumner". Retrieved 11 March 2019.