Silver press

The silver press points towards a time of increasing efficiency and mechanisation in many crafts during the 1800s century. It also made it possible to produce goods that could be sold at more affordable prices to the growing middle class.

With the help of the silver press, gold- and silversmiths could produce large quantities of patterned parts for objects such as cutlery, candlesticks, dishes, bowls and jugs. A worked silver sheet was placed in the press and shaped against a steel die. After pressing, excess material was cut away and the edges were filed before the different parts were soldered together. Some objects required several pressings before their detailed decoration emerged.

Working the press was both heavy and dangerous. At least two people were needed to operate it: one positioned the dies and silver sheets, while the other handled the four metre long swing arm, which weighed several hundred kilos. When the arm swung back, it was important to get out of the way quickly.

Like many other items in the Gold and Silversmith’s Workshop, Skansen’s silver press comes from the 19th-century Stockholm workshop of master goldsmith Gustaf Möllenborg.

About the building

The building was constructed in the first half of the 1700s. It was originally a small timber house, but in the 1770s an extra storey was added in brick and the facade was rendered. The ground floor has housed workshops for craftspeople, while the upper floor was reached by a staircase at the back of the building.