From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
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For other uses, see Goldsmith (disambiguation).
A goldsmith creating a new ring
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with precious metals, usually to make jewelry. Goldsmiths must be skilled in forming metal, through filing, soldering, forging, casting and polishing metal. Traditionally these skills are passed along through apprenticeships, however some schools have more recently begun offering courses in goldsmithing. Today it is also more common for a goldsmith to study art or architecture as a way to reflect on jewelry and its social implications.
In Europe goldsmiths were organised in guilds, and were usually one of the most important and wealthy of the guilds in a city. The guild kept records of members, the marks they used on their products, which are very useful to historians where they survive. They often acted as bankers, since they dealt in gold and had sufficient security for the safe storage of valuable items. In the Middle Ages, goldsmithing normally included silversmithing as well, but the brassworkers and workers in other base metals were normally in a separate Guild and the trades not allowed to overlap. Usually jewellers were goldsmiths. The printmaking technique of engraving developed among goldsmiths in Germany around 1430, who had long used the technique on their metal pieces. The notable engravers of the 1400's either were goldsmiths, like Master ES, or were the sons of goldsmiths, like Martin Schongauer or Albrecht Dürer.
Goldsmith: A metalworker concerned especially with pieces of jewelry and fine decorative utensils of gold, silver, copper, bronze and iron. (Brepohl, 2001, xiv)
[edit] See also
- Gold as an investment
- old master print , engraving and niello - goldsmith's techniques or related trades in the Middle Ages
Metalworking: