Arthur Price
Encyclopedia
Arthur Price & Co. is a British manufacturer and distributor of cutlery
based in Sheffield
.
, Master Cutler
s & Silversmith
s, was born on 3 March 1865. He left school at the age of 14 and worked for various cutlery
companies in Birmingham
to learn his craft
. These were Hands & Company, Potosi Silver Company, and John Yates & Son.
In 1902, Arthur started his first factory
making silver
cutlery (also known as silverware
, or flatware in the USA, knives
, spoon
s and fork
s on Gem Street, Aston
, Birmingham. The Company, then called A. Price & Co. Ltd, were the first to manufacture chromium plate spoons and forks, which was the forerunner of Stainless Steel
.
In 1911 he moved the company to a small factory at Conybere Street, where he started to cast his own nickel silver
ingots. Arthur Price was a great believer in being fully integrated as a manufacturer. Around the time that World War I
started, he moved the company again to Vauxhall Street, Birmingham.
The company continued to grow throughout the depression of the 1930s, despite fire breaking out in the Gem Street factory on the 6th November 1934. (read the original news article). Arthur died on 20 February 1936 at the age of 70, leaving the company in the hands of his two sons, Arthur & Frederick. The onset of war in 1939 created a huge drop in demand for cutlery and silverware
. And to make matters worse, Arthur Junior died in 1942 at the age of 50 from cancer
, leaving Frederick to cope on his own.
Midway through the war, Frederick managed to gain a contract with the Ministry of Aircraft Production manufacturing hot brass pressings, which formed the body of incendiary bombs. This contract saved the company, as not only had demand dropped to an all time low, the Ministry of Labour were threatening to close the factory in order to release what was left of its workforce. The very war which threatened the company offered it a life line. Arthur Price & Co. Ltd continued making munitions for the remainder of the war.
After the 2nd World War ended, cutlery production started again and in the immediate post war years demand outstripped supply. Cutler
s could sacrifice quality and sell anything, but Arthur Price & Co were determined to go against this trend and insist on returning to their pre-war standards of only selling the finest quality cutlery.
During the late 1940s, Arthur Price & Co acquired an even larger cutlery
factory in Sheffield
and in the years that followed the company became the largest manufacturer of Stainless Steel
cutlery in the country. By this time, the company was being run by the current Chairman, John Price, son of Frederick.
In 1964, John Price took the adventurous step to rename Arthur Price & Co as Arthur Price of England. He wanted to emphasise the company’s expertise as an English cutlery manufacturer based in Birmingham and Sheffield. In the years that followed, the Arthur Price of England brand grew steadily. A notable achievement was designing and making the cutlery for Concorde
in 1976.
Then, in 1977, the company was granted the Royal Warrant
by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen
in recognition for being a top quality supplier to Her Majesty’s Household.
In 1982, Arthur Price of England ended its long association with Birmingham by relocating to its current head office in Lichfield
, Staffordshire
. This move saw its entire cutlery manufacturing operations now based in Sheffield.
However, the market was changing in the 1980s and the company started to add to its product range quite significantly over the next 20 years to what we see today. The company took its first steps to diversify beyond just cutlery
with the introduction of classic silver tableware
and gifts.
In 1988 the company was granted its second Royal Warrant
, this time to His Royal Highness The Prince Of Wales. Also in this year, Arthur Price added to its range of skills by buying Charles Kirkby, a cutlery cabinet
manufacturer based in Sheffield.
In 1992, the company introduced its first cutlery range that wasn’t manufactured in the UK. The market had changed quite considerably by now and there was huge growth in the amount of product imported from the Far East
. Arthur Price knew it had to respond to this move in the market and its first range produced in the Far East, Arthur Price International, was launched alongside its UK made collections.
In 1993, it bought another cutlery manufacturer in Sheffield, called A. Deeley (Cutlery Manufacturers) Ltd, and gradually over time amalgamated all of its cutlery manufacturing operations into the A. Deeley factory.
In 1994 Arthur Price bought its major UK competitor, George Butler, which significantly increased its market share in the UK. As part of this deal, Arthur Price also became the sole distributor in the UK of the leading French cutlery brand, Guy Degrenne.
By 1997, the market was crying out for more contemporary designs with the huge growth of consumers’ interest in home interiors and design
. Arthur Price launched its first contemporary cutlery designs in 1997 in response to this market change. This was an important step for the company, and more and more contemporary cutlery designs have been added to the product range in the 10 years since then to sit alongside its renowned classic designs. Today, Arthur Price in fact sell far more contemporary cutlery than it does classic.
The companies move into contemporary design took another leap forward in 2000 when it linked up with interior designer, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
. Laurence designed a range of cutlery
patterns and they were launched onto the market with great success. They were the original designer cutlery and started a trend of using famous designers in housewares & tabletop that many companies have since followed.
A year later in 2001, Arthur Price linked up with one of the world’s most famous photographers, Lord Patrick Lichfield, to design and launch the Lichfield Photograph Frame Collection. This also continued Arthur Price’s Royal connections, Lord Lichfield being The Queen’s cousin.
Another famous name, Jean-Christophe Novelli
has teamed up with Arthur Price to create his own branded range of kitchenware
called Novelli by Arthur Price, which features Jean-Christophe's own invention, the 'Versi-Tool'. This is essentially a spatula with a serated edge and a cheese slicer which allows one to cut, slice & turn the food using only one tool. Novelli is the first ever range of kitchen utensils under Jean-Christophe's name.
Cutlery
Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the...
based in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
.
Arthur Price (1865 - 1936)
Arthur Price, founder of Arthur Price of EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Master Cutler
Cutler
A cutler is a maker of cutlery.Cutler may also refer to:-Places in the United States:*Cutler, California, a town*Cutler, Florida, now part of the Village of Palmetto Bay*Cutler Bay, Florida, formerly known as Cutler Ridge*Cutler, Illinois...
s & Silversmith
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...
s, was born on 3 March 1865. He left school at the age of 14 and worked for various cutlery
Cutlery
Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the...
companies in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
to learn his craft
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
. These were Hands & Company, Potosi Silver Company, and John Yates & Son.
In 1902, Arthur started his first factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
making silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
cutlery (also known as silverware
Silver (household)
Household silver or silverware includes dishware, cutlery and other household items made of sterling, Britannia or Sheffield plate silver. The term is often extended to items made of stainless steel...
, or flatware in the USA, knives
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
, spoon
Spoon
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a small shallow bowl, oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery , especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for serving. Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients...
s and fork
Fork
As a piece of cutlery or kitchenware, a fork is a tool consisting of a handle with several narrow tines on one end. The fork, as an eating utensil, has been a feature primarily of the West, whereas in East Asia chopsticks have been more prevalent...
s on Gem Street, Aston
Aston
Aston is an area of the City of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Lying to the north-east of the Birmingham city centre, Aston constitutes an electoral ward within the council constituency of Ladywood.-History:...
, Birmingham. The Company, then called A. Price & Co. Ltd, were the first to manufacture chromium plate spoons and forks, which was the forerunner of Stainless Steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
.
In 1911 he moved the company to a small factory at Conybere Street, where he started to cast his own nickel silver
Nickel silver
Nickel silver, also known as German silver, Argentann, new silver, nickel brass, albata,, or alpacca, is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver is named for its silvery appearance, but it contains no elemental silver...
ingots. Arthur Price was a great believer in being fully integrated as a manufacturer. Around the time that World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
started, he moved the company again to Vauxhall Street, Birmingham.
The company continued to grow throughout the depression of the 1930s, despite fire breaking out in the Gem Street factory on the 6th November 1934. (read the original news article). Arthur died on 20 February 1936 at the age of 70, leaving the company in the hands of his two sons, Arthur & Frederick. The onset of war in 1939 created a huge drop in demand for cutlery and silverware
Silver (household)
Household silver or silverware includes dishware, cutlery and other household items made of sterling, Britannia or Sheffield plate silver. The term is often extended to items made of stainless steel...
. And to make matters worse, Arthur Junior died in 1942 at the age of 50 from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, leaving Frederick to cope on his own.
Midway through the war, Frederick managed to gain a contract with the Ministry of Aircraft Production manufacturing hot brass pressings, which formed the body of incendiary bombs. This contract saved the company, as not only had demand dropped to an all time low, the Ministry of Labour were threatening to close the factory in order to release what was left of its workforce. The very war which threatened the company offered it a life line. Arthur Price & Co. Ltd continued making munitions for the remainder of the war.
After the 2nd World War ended, cutlery production started again and in the immediate post war years demand outstripped supply. Cutler
Cutler
A cutler is a maker of cutlery.Cutler may also refer to:-Places in the United States:*Cutler, California, a town*Cutler, Florida, now part of the Village of Palmetto Bay*Cutler Bay, Florida, formerly known as Cutler Ridge*Cutler, Illinois...
s could sacrifice quality and sell anything, but Arthur Price & Co were determined to go against this trend and insist on returning to their pre-war standards of only selling the finest quality cutlery.
During the late 1940s, Arthur Price & Co acquired an even larger cutlery
Cutlery
Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the...
factory in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and in the years that followed the company became the largest manufacturer of Stainless Steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
cutlery in the country. By this time, the company was being run by the current Chairman, John Price, son of Frederick.
In 1964, John Price took the adventurous step to rename Arthur Price & Co as Arthur Price of England. He wanted to emphasise the company’s expertise as an English cutlery manufacturer based in Birmingham and Sheffield. In the years that followed, the Arthur Price of England brand grew steadily. A notable achievement was designing and making the cutlery for Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
in 1976.
Then, in 1977, the company was granted the Royal Warrant
Royal Warrant
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...
by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
in recognition for being a top quality supplier to Her Majesty’s Household.
In 1982, Arthur Price of England ended its long association with Birmingham by relocating to its current head office in Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. This move saw its entire cutlery manufacturing operations now based in Sheffield.
Arthur Price in recent years
Since its creation in 1902 right up to the mid 1980s, Arthur Price & Co only manufactured classic, English cutlery. This was a very limited product range, but had successfully sustained the company for over 80 years.However, the market was changing in the 1980s and the company started to add to its product range quite significantly over the next 20 years to what we see today. The company took its first steps to diversify beyond just cutlery
Cutlery
Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the...
with the introduction of classic silver tableware
Tableware
Tableware is the dishes or dishware , dinnerware , or china used for setting a table, serving food, and for dining. Tableware can be meant to include flatware and glassware...
and gifts.
In 1988 the company was granted its second Royal Warrant
Royal Warrant
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...
, this time to His Royal Highness The Prince Of Wales. Also in this year, Arthur Price added to its range of skills by buying Charles Kirkby, a cutlery cabinet
Cabinet (furniture)
A cabinet is usually a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors or drawers for storing miscellaneous items. Some cabinets stand alone while others are built into a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood or, now increasingly, of synthetic...
manufacturer based in Sheffield.
In 1992, the company introduced its first cutlery range that wasn’t manufactured in the UK. The market had changed quite considerably by now and there was huge growth in the amount of product imported from the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. Arthur Price knew it had to respond to this move in the market and its first range produced in the Far East, Arthur Price International, was launched alongside its UK made collections.
In 1993, it bought another cutlery manufacturer in Sheffield, called A. Deeley (Cutlery Manufacturers) Ltd, and gradually over time amalgamated all of its cutlery manufacturing operations into the A. Deeley factory.
In 1994 Arthur Price bought its major UK competitor, George Butler, which significantly increased its market share in the UK. As part of this deal, Arthur Price also became the sole distributor in the UK of the leading French cutlery brand, Guy Degrenne.
By 1997, the market was crying out for more contemporary designs with the huge growth of consumers’ interest in home interiors and design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
. Arthur Price launched its first contemporary cutlery designs in 1997 in response to this market change. This was an important step for the company, and more and more contemporary cutlery designs have been added to the product range in the 10 years since then to sit alongside its renowned classic designs. Today, Arthur Price in fact sell far more contemporary cutlery than it does classic.
The companies move into contemporary design took another leap forward in 2000 when it linked up with interior designer, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is a successful homestyle consultant best known for his appearances on the BBC television programme Changing Rooms...
. Laurence designed a range of cutlery
Cutlery
Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the...
patterns and they were launched onto the market with great success. They were the original designer cutlery and started a trend of using famous designers in housewares & tabletop that many companies have since followed.
A year later in 2001, Arthur Price linked up with one of the world’s most famous photographers, Lord Patrick Lichfield, to design and launch the Lichfield Photograph Frame Collection. This also continued Arthur Price’s Royal connections, Lord Lichfield being The Queen’s cousin.
Another famous name, Jean-Christophe Novelli
Jean-Christophe Novelli
-Life:Born in Arras, Northern France, in 1961, in a family with Italian roots, Jean-Christophe Novelli left school at age 14 and worked in a bakery before, at the age of 20, becoming a personal chef to the Rothschild family....
has teamed up with Arthur Price to create his own branded range of kitchenware
Kitchenware
Kitchenware include utensils, appliances, dishes, cookware, and so on for use in the kitchen.-See also:*Cookware and bakeware*Dishware*Drinkware*List of eating utensils*List of food preparation utensils*List of Japanese cooking utensils...
called Novelli by Arthur Price, which features Jean-Christophe's own invention, the 'Versi-Tool'. This is essentially a spatula with a serated edge and a cheese slicer which allows one to cut, slice & turn the food using only one tool. Novelli is the first ever range of kitchen utensils under Jean-Christophe's name.