William Chaffers

William Chaffers (28 September 1811 – 12 April 1892) was an English antiquary and writer of reference works on hallmarks, and marks on ceramics. His Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain, first published in 1863, has appeared in many later editions.

Life

Chaffers was the son of William Chaffers and wife Sarah, and was born in Watling Street, London, in 1811; he was descended from a brother of Richard Chaffers (1731–1765), a manufacturer of Liverpool porcelain. He was educated at Margate and at Merchant Taylors' School, where he was entered in 1824.

He was attracted to antiquarian studies while a clerk in the city of London, by the discovery of Roman and medieval antiquities in the foundations of the Royal Exchange during 1838–9. At the same time he began to concentrate attention upon the study of gold and silver plate and ceramics, especially in regard to the official and other marks by which dates and places of fabrication can be distinguished. In 1863 Chaffers published two important works:

Hall Marks on Gold and Silver Plate, illustrated, with Tables of Annual Date Letters employed in the Assay Offices of the United Kingdom; in the 8th edition of 1896 it included "Histories of the Goldsmiths' Trade, both in England and France, and revised London and Provincial Tables", and an introductory essay by C. A. Markham.

Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain of the Renaissance and Modern Periods, with Historical Notices of each Manufactory, preceded by an introductory Essay on Vasa Fictilia of the Greek, Romano-British, and Mediæval Eras. The aim of the work was to be for ceramics what Franz Brulliot's Dictionnaire des Monogrammes was to painting, and it at once established Chaffers as the leading authority upon his subject. Many subsequent editions have appeared, revised by later editors; the 9th edition appeared in 1900, and the 15th edition in 1965.