The master smith depicted here is William Lawrence DeMatteo (1923-1988) son of master silversmith William Gaetano DeMatteo. The elder DeMatteo emigrated from Italy and became a noted silversmith in the early 1920's, eventually providing pieces to Tiffany and Cartier and Georg Jensen. The younger man depicted here was taught the silver-smithing trade from a young age while still small enough that he had to stand on a wooden box while his father instructed him. William L. DeMatteo would leave the family shop to serve as a US Navy torpedo bomber pilot in the Pacific theater in WWII and would return to service during the Korean War. Both men were unusual in that, due to the elder DeMatteo's small Italian frame, they hammered the silver AWAY from their body rather than toward it, which was the typical practice of silversmiths. William G. retired, working only occasionally and providing some pieces on order to his son at Williamsburg, and eventually passed away in 1981. Sadly, William L. passed away in only 1988, still in his mid-60's. There son/grandson, also a William, is an active silversmith. What a life!

@maryk.mcintyre470

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this information. I first saw this video in 1988, coincidentally, in a silversmithing workshop taught by Lois Betteridge. Lois single-handedly taught 3 generations of Canadian silversmiths, myself included. So much of our craft is passed from generation to generation, in a family tree formed of people who love the metal and the discipline.

Fantastic to watch the old ways of doing things, after 50 years as a craftsman I learned a few very valuable techniques in this video.

As a smith this is great history. This is classic 70s with a great silversmith most will not appreciate

Interesting, historic and educational. Nowdays, kids growing up in a different environment. Nursery, school and home provide a wide range of fine motor developing program and toys. Back in time, kids had few things to develop those skills. So when they entered to such industry, lot of practice was needed to develop even basic fine motor skills not to mention what we could see in the film. Respect to the old craftsmen!

I wonder how much the guy that ordered something like this actually paid for this hand made, solid silver coffee pot in colonial times vs how much it would cost today.

As Tin and Coppersmith; all I can say is wow. I’ve made many architectural pieces for buildings; such as scuppers, cornices and the like. But little of it was of compound bends. Most pieces were simple in comparison to this. I use machine tools like rollers, beaders and brakes. No way would I have the patience to hammer out a simple cup little alone a serving piece like this. Artisans of the highest order.

This is remarkable, thank you so much for sharing this gem of artistry! Following the creation of the piece from start to finish was incredible.

This really is an incredible film, giving a real insight into the Work and Gifted Creative Craftsmanship of the Silversmith of the era, Thank you 🇺🇸

Just beautiful!

A national treasure

Thank you so much for sharing these videos and your efforts to keep these crafts and information alive!

This and the rifle making video are amazing. Is this a whole series? I need more.

You can learn so much from this single video! Thanks for sharing!

I'm glad someone traveled back in time to film this...very valuable information

Loved every minute of it!!! Thanks for the education!

WOW ! now thats what i call craftmanship as silver collector myself, i can appreciate my 1865 sterling silver teapot even more now i have an idea of how it was made! i can actually see all the little hammer marks inside my tea pot and yet the ouside is smooth and mirror like! as in video anyway thanks for uploading

Mashallah nice very beautiful great work of silver smith works thanks teaching us

Thank you for sharing this, it is exactly what I was looking for.

Thank-you. Much admiration, and so much learned.

Wow!! What a humbling video. Such mastery is amazing.

This was a fabulous video. I learned a lot in the video because i want to become a silversmith as my dream job. thank you! Kiran Baez

@mylesk6311

10 жыл бұрын

...

@steveeyre6975

3 жыл бұрын

Kiran how did you go on with silversmithing

Thank you very much for uploading.

I remember watching this program in my Industrial Arts class in 1983. Thank you for posting. :-)

👏👏Magnificent Historical Honest documentary,,, 🙏🙏🌷

Thank You..Loved this...Very Informative. I did not realize how much hammering and precision went into a Silver Piece. I thought it was all cast and then attached.

Fascinating

Great video!

I needed this for a school project and it was very helpful Thankyou

I Like this Thank You .

So checking out after reading an article on Williamsburg, especially the part about Silversmithing and Cooper (woodcrafter) trade.

@spikespa5208

3 жыл бұрын

The Colonial Gunsmith of Williamsburg is a good video also. Metal worker, wood worker, finisher, engraver, artist.

Making silver wire is dead easy but the trick is to anneal after every pass otherwise I see cracks and scale like burrs. Annealing is key to working with precious metal if you are shaping it in this manner; however, if filing or grinding it isn't desirable or useful IMO. It's the patience aspect- annealing takes time but pays dividends in the end-quality and work-ability of a particular item. It has to be done. Metal is crystalline material frozen in it's state at ambient temperatures. After hammering or drawing through a die the crystalline structure becomes compressed and hardens. Heating it back up loosens the crystalline structure again and the metal is more workable. The process repeats. It is guaranteed that if one continues to work the metal without annealing frequently cracks will quickly begin to form which is bad.

Wonderful.

Dazzeling is all I can say, Thank You. Yup,! G-G 😃😁🤩

THIS GREAT

Very informative and entertaining. However it is so difficult for any presentation to convey the skill level, amount of time and pure hard work that goes into such work.

Yesterday a Journeyman, today a Mastercraftman.

Belli lavoro oggi questo pezzo si realizza in meno di un giorno

Food and drink just tastes better when served in sterling silver!

lmao just figured out why its called a BLOW torch. Awesome lol

Great doc! Thanx for the UL!! The end product is amazing, but I have to say that all the hammering must get to be a bit boring. I mean, hours on end of hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer . . . . . . . . . .

@bobmiller4383

3 жыл бұрын

It's not mindless hammering. Every fall of the hammer accomplishes something. Precision is required. I've done similar work, and it's not boring

@no_peace

Жыл бұрын

Don't worry they just listened to podcasts

Wickid!

👏👏👏💪👍👍

Wow, at 35:02 he melts a 1700's Spanish 8 Reales.

This what i must become.

Carpal tunnel hell.

I’m just here to answer my worksheet

Where's the safety glasses yo!

As a practicing gold and silversmith - the comment that it is a 'lost art' is both insulting and ridiculous

@nicholaspostlethwaite9554

8 ай бұрын

Depends. The craft has been 'hobbyfied'. Gone are the companies employing silversmiths pretty much. Now what is left is mainly sole craftsmen and students who go through a college course and all think they are 'designers'. Plain fact of the matter is no one wants silver in their homes any more. All that fuss cleaning it. Risk or theft, etc. Then the cheapness of the second hand 'antiques', dead men need no living wages. You should know that. 😉 It will survive as a hobby, a few 'art works', but lose the greatest skills of those that once spent entire lives doing it.

I bet they didn't need a gym or workout program.

This art is not holy lost, but not many people do it now.

Damn he's worse than me at pouring!

Who is high right now?? Lmfao

@GeneralRamstein

3 жыл бұрын

@DB Cooper my man !!! There another good one about them making a musket... It's pretty trippy

@GeneralRamstein

3 жыл бұрын

@D. B. Cooper lolzz....... well here is the link. kzread.info/dash/bejne/o4itldeKdtbPos4.html be prepared to travel back in time homie.

@twveach

2 жыл бұрын

I happen to watch both budeos back to back then found these comments….way trippy

Learning a little bit from this video how england treated the colonies, it's no wonder the colonies rebelled, england got what they deserved