Craftsman's rare sterling silver caviar bowl up for auction

1,500 LOTS IN TWO-DAY SALE

- By PAUL POTTER of Potters Auction Saleroom of Messingham

THE Victorian Glasgow silversmith and jeweller Robert Scott was an incomparable artistic talent who produced work of exquisite novelty and elegance - at least according to his publicist!

Actually Scott was special, a craftsman who built one of the largest manufacturing and wholesale jewelry businesses in Scotland, albeit one that attracted comically fawning coverage in the 19th-century press and various directories.

One 1891 article gushed that someone “privileged to visit Mr Scott's showroom in a handsome apartment in a convenient location in Buchanan Street” would find displays that were “a treat to observe as regards the highly artistic and tasteful manner in which they are submitted to the inspection of customers”.

And there was a ton of guff about the “personal esteem” in which Robert Scott was held by his clientele and his “assiduous endeavours’ to maintain the high artistic standards of the industry etc, etc.