Summary

Catalogue illustrates the product range made by Saracen Plate Company, owned by George Kyriakides. The images in the catalogue are decorative silver jugs, trays, goblets, ice buckets, muffineer sets and teapots. All pieces in the catalogue are reproductions in the Sheffield Reproduction Silverware style. This piece was primarily a portfolio used when liaising with potential wholesale clients. There is evidence that the catalogue content is able to be modified according to the client, due to the use of two split pins in the binding and two loose pages stored in the back of the binder.

George Kyriakides was born in 1921 in Larnaca, on the southern coast of Cyprus. In his early working years he was apprenticed to his father Petrou Kyriacou as a silversmith and in 1948 George migrated to Melbourne, Australia. In 1949 he married Australian-born Silvia Sarandis, the child of Greek migrants and they had two children. Using his skills as a silversmith, he worked for a local silverware company and then proceeded to start his own silversmithing business under the name Saracen Plate Company, situated at 152 Lygon St, Carlton. A manufacturing wholesale business, they sold mainly to large clients such as Myers and Prouds Jewellery. In 1974 George sold the wholesale silversmithing part of the business due to the difficulty in obtaining pure metals, and continued to work as a Jeweller under the name GK Jewellery until his retirement and beyond. In later years George was known for his philanthropic generosity and in 2006 he died and is survived by his two children.

Physical Description

Catalogue consists of a brown paper binder, embossed to have the appearance of leather. On the cover the text is surrounded by a wreath of illustrated grape vines. The catalogue contains sixteen pages, including a title page, that are affixed into the binder with two metal split pins. Each product page has a black and white photographic plate that shows an image of the product. Two of the pages are loose in the back of the binder. The logo 'Saracen' is written using a gothic black letter font. The remainder of the text on the cover page is written in a standard serif font.

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection offers a multi-faceted snapshot of a migrant small business in Lygon Street Carlton through tools of trade, product catalogue and a sample of the silverware produced for retail. It thus encapsulates a small business activity from production through to sale and distribution. It includes a beautiful filigree tray as well as more mainstream domestic silverware items. The collection enables the documentation of the passing on of trade traditions and skills from one generation to the next and the bringing of those skills to Australia, as well as capturing a particular craft, filigree work, which is a disappearing artform.

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