A King George V & Queen Mary Sterling Silver Jubilee Commemorative Bookmark by RE Stone, London, 1935

Description

A plain sterling silver bookmark having a slender, flat, paper knife blade with softly hammered finish, tapering gradually from a circular monogram top, designed to slip over a page, to a gentle point.  The blade carries the hallmark and is engraved: “JUBILEE 1935”.  The monogram top is formed from two parts: two angled and slightly upturned prongs extend from the top of the blade to which are soldered a sawn-out letter ‘G’ encircling ‘V’ (signifying King George V) such that the prongs overlain by ‘V’ also form the letter ‘M’ (for Queen Mary), the whole surmounted by a cast Art Deco stylised crown.

Dimensions & Weight:

Width (at top): 2.5 cm / 1 in.;     Length: 14 cm / 5 ½ ins.;     Weight:   15 gms / 0.5 ozT.

Hallmarks:

Maker’s mark of upper case plain ‘R. E. S.’ in a rectangular punch with concave corners (Robert Edgar, known as ‘R E’, Stone); Lion Passant (Sterling); Leopard’s Head (London); lower case Gothic ‘u’ (1935-6); special Jubilee double-head mark.

RE Stone [1903-90]

Robert Edgar Stone, almost without exception referred to as RE Stone, was born in Paddington, London in 1903 and died in April 1990.  A childhood accident, leading to a severe arm injury and many months in hospital, disrupted his schooling and, at age 14, having been judged unsuited to an engineering scholarship, he was directed to become a silversmith and sent to London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts for 2 years’ basic training.  Followed in 1919 by a formal apprenticeship, then a senior arts scholarship at the Central School, he worked hard and showed considerable talent, acknowledged publicly by the School Silver Department’s head.  Stone was further rewarded by receiving the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths’ first ever Travelling Scholarship, for 2 years, enabling him to travel widely and work for silversmiths in Europe from Paris to Scandinavia.  Married in 1929 and living in Wembley, by the early 1930s he was working in Hammersmith where he started to take on workers and an apprentice.

It was not easy for an artist-craftsman to become established, as mass-produced silver was less expensive, but an early order came from the Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. Ltd. in Regent Street and this relationship continued even after their amalgamation with Garrard & Co. Ltd in 1952.

Conveniently, King George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935 brought a demand for souvenirs and Stone did not hesitate to supply a range of quality commemorative pieces, including caddy spoons, bookmarks and two-handled bowls set with a 1935 Jubilee crown (5-shilling coin).  A common theme for this Silver Jubilee range was cast crowns as handles or terminals, some with a red enamel background to the crown.  They were retailed by Asprey and Wilson & Gill as well as others.  This range was adapted for the planned Coronation of Edward VIII in 1936 and for that of George VI in 1937.

Adapted from: John Andrew and Derek Styles, Designer British Silver from studios established 1930-1985, (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2015); pp. 18 and 446-453.  This source provides further information on Stone’s successful career with notable commissions in the later 1930s and post-War era, going on to relate that, towards the end of his life, Stone said that his proudest achievement was not a piece of silver, but that he had trained 10 excellent apprentices.  As at 2013, when the book was published, two of those were still working and had sons who were also silversmiths at the bench.