Thomas Stevens' silk weaving company in Coventry, England, was producing fancy silk ribbons in the mid nineteenth century, when the Tariffs on imported ribbons were removed. That's when the English market was overwhelmed with cheaper, high quality, French and other European ribbons. When ribbons on bonnets were going out of style, and feathers and other trimmings were coming in, that is when fashion took a turn.
Thomas Stevens had to save his company. He began to produce colorful small silk weavings for greeting cards, calandars, sashes, and badges. In the 1860's, he began developing a whole new market area, selling to booksellers and stationery stores instead of to the drapery and fashion trade. By 1879, he began to mount little pictures in cardboard frames, adding information labels, and selling them ready to be framed as pictures.
Categories included portraits of historical figures, royalty and politicians. Also included were religious pictures, assorted pictures of exhibitions, castles, buildings, and architecture and engineering. Endless sports scenes including fox hunting, horse racing, coursing, boxing, bicycle racing, bullfighting and rowing. Also included were trains, fire engines and coaches. Not all the Stevens ribbons were woven in their Coventry factory. Looms were reasonably portable and often were set up at exhibitions where small pictures or bookmarks were woven and sold at the exhibition.
Each picture was mounted on cardboard, matted, and labeled. Collectors are very particular that the picture be in its original mat with all the labels complete.
Another major weaver of silk pictures was Neyret Freres of France. Neyret Freres is best known for exquisite silk interpretations of whimsical paintings in black and white with shades of gray, and occasional accents of color. In the late 1990's the firm began producing additional copies of a few of the original designs, using stocks of original silk thread. Prices for pictures range from about $35 for postcard size to about $150 for larger pictures.
Because of the great number of designs produced, the great number of manufactures, the excruiating detail in the silk pictures, and the great number of tiny details that greatly affect the price and value, it is well worth joining the Stevengraph Collectors' Association for information.
REFERENCES:
The Silk Pictures of Thomas Stevens; Baker
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