Robert Stone

Who was Robert Stone?

Robert Edgar Stone was an English silversmith who worked in the mid-20th century and was noted for hand-crafted commissions.

Stone was born in 1903 in London, son of a carpenter, Arthur Stone, and Ada, née Scantlebury. A childhood accident that nearly resulted in the loss of his arm affected his education, limiting the possible trades he could enter, and at 14 he began training in the silversmithing department of London's Central School of Arts and Crafts.

His work at the School resulted in a two-year travelling scholarship from the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, under which he travelled throughout western Europe and trained in Paris at La Maison Hénin. Stone established a workshop, in time took on apprentices, and in 1939 was made a liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company.

Stone's workshop produced works primarily of sterling silver. It was closed for the duration of World War II, during which he worked on torpedo testing in Scotland. He resumed work in London after the war, continuing to train apprentices and produce works at his workshop at 20 Garrick Street, where by 1955 he had trained seven apprentices. He continued to work at Garrick Street until 1964. He later operated from a workshop in his home at Portincaple, on the west coast of Scotland, until 1980. Stone died in 1990.