James Dixon & Sons
James Dixon & Sons, silversmiths, Sheffield.
The business commenced in c.1806 in Silver Street, Sheffield by James Dixon and Thomas Smith.
Thomas Smith departed the business in 1823 and James Dixon's eldest son, William Frederick, joined and soon expanded into larger premises in Cornish Place in 1824 with workshops, casting shops, offices and warehouses.
In 1830, the firm began making silver and plated goods at Cornish Place by acquiring the firm Nicholson, Ashforth and Cutts.
The firm changed it's name to James Dixon & Sons when James Willis Dixon, the second son, joined the family business.
The firm began to make electroplate from 1848 and soon after in 1850, new stamp and plating shops were constructed in Cornish place, along with showrooms and more warehousing.
The firm were awarded several prizes in different classes for silver and Britannia metal at the Great Exhibition in 1851.
The firm's costings book of 1879 includes designs by Christopher Dresser, registered from 1880 and produced for a number of years.
A key identifier proving an item is produced by Dixon is the corporate mark of trumpet, or bugle, and banner mark, first granted c.1880 with a name added later in 1890.
The firm prospered for a number of years and absorbed William Hutton & Sons Ltd of Sheffield in 1930.
In the 1980s the firm had a financial collapse and the production in Cornish Place closed in 1992.