Concepts of Invention, Identity and Imitation in the London and Provincial Metal-working Trades, 1750 1800

Abstract

This paper is an examination of the relationship between London retailers and their provincial suppliers associated with a particular category of commodities, domestic luxury metalwares, in the second half of the eighteenth century. Innovative metal—working processes were introduced into the Sheffield and Birmingham manufactories in the 1740s and 1750s which were combined with traditional craft skills, such as hand-raising associated with the metropolitan trade and the production of a new material, Sheffield plate. The interdependence of the provincial and London trades. In terms of access to specialist skills and specific markets, and at a time of growing demand and fierce competition, produced almost inevitable tensions. These were most dramatically expressed in debates over the acknowledgement of authorship of both design and manufacture. In an industry that increasingly depended on the supply of novel goods, in terms of new materials, form and ornament, the origination, dissemination, adaptation and protection of designs played a crucial role. This paper will examine whether novelty challenged intrinsic value in the competition for sales, and whether imitation, as a form of invention was desirable in its own right.

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