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The History of Silver
Illustrated with over 300 photographs. Includes bibliography and index.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 12, 1989
About the author
Claude Blair
29 books4 followersClaude Blair was a scholar of wide-ranging interests and achievements, but best known as one of the foremost authorities on historic European metalwork, especially arms and armour.
Claude Blair was born and brought up in Manchester, mostly in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where he attended William Hulme's grammar school. After service in the second world war, he entered Manchester University, taking a BA in history in 1950. He was awarded his MA for a dissertation on the silvered and engraved armour made for Henry VIII (left, now on display in the Royal Armouries in Leeds). In 2004 he received a third degree from the same university – an honorary LittD.
Blair was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1956, and in 1998 was awarded its highest honour – the gold medal – adding his name to a list of distinguished medallists that includes Sir Arthur Evans and Sir Mortimer Wheeler.
He was involved in many other learned societies. He was an early member of the Arms and Armour Society, serving as its editor from 1953 to 1977. In 1946 he joined the Monumental Brass Society, of which he was a staunch supporter until his death, and he was a founder member and first president of the Medieval Dress and Textile Society.
Blair's remarkable scholarly output included more than 200 books and articles. In 1998 he edited and contributed to the definitive work on the Crown Jewels. He was subsequently, in 2005, made a CVO.
His intellectual vigour and enthusiasm remained undimmed until almost the end. In 2009, he co-authored a book with Marian Campbell on the 19th-century fakes of medieval and Renaissance objects associated with the name of Louis Marcy (Oggetti D'arte Della Galleria Parmeggiani di Reggio Emilia).
Over Christmas 2009, he completed his section of a new book on the Greenwich armouries (to be published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York), thereby achieving an ambition he had held for 50 years.
Claude Blair was born and brought up in Manchester, mostly in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where he attended William Hulme's grammar school. After service in the second world war, he entered Manchester University, taking a BA in history in 1950. He was awarded his MA for a dissertation on the silvered and engraved armour made for Henry VIII (left, now on display in the Royal Armouries in Leeds). In 2004 he received a third degree from the same university – an honorary LittD.
Blair was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1956, and in 1998 was awarded its highest honour – the gold medal – adding his name to a list of distinguished medallists that includes Sir Arthur Evans and Sir Mortimer Wheeler.
He was involved in many other learned societies. He was an early member of the Arms and Armour Society, serving as its editor from 1953 to 1977. In 1946 he joined the Monumental Brass Society, of which he was a staunch supporter until his death, and he was a founder member and first president of the Medieval Dress and Textile Society.
Blair's remarkable scholarly output included more than 200 books and articles. In 1998 he edited and contributed to the definitive work on the Crown Jewels. He was subsequently, in 2005, made a CVO.
His intellectual vigour and enthusiasm remained undimmed until almost the end. In 2009, he co-authored a book with Marian Campbell on the 19th-century fakes of medieval and Renaissance objects associated with the name of Louis Marcy (Oggetti D'arte Della Galleria Parmeggiani di Reggio Emilia).
Over Christmas 2009, he completed his section of a new book on the Greenwich armouries (to be published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York), thereby achieving an ambition he had held for 50 years.
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