Henry Birks & Sons

[Brian Anderson]

I received for Christmas a gift of a beautiful pen fitted with a Henry Birks & Sons #2 nib. no gold content marking, but I suspect it is indeed 14k. It appears this company still exists in some form as a major Canadian jeweler. I thought initially this may be an Aikin Lambert made pen as it closely resembles even a pattern from Waterman 0314 pens of the period, but upon receipt notice the filigree work is not as clean as I would expect Aikin made pens to be. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a well made pen and is very beautiful, but perhaps another firm other than AIkin supplied Henry Birks & Sons with their pens? Does anyone have any further information on this pen?

 

http://www.esterbrook.net/collection/henrybirks1.jpg

http://www.esterbrook.net/collection/henrybirks2.jpg

http://www.esterbrook.net/collection/henrybirksnib.jpg

 

And just for fun, a closeup of the engraving on the pen, which I think is spectacular:

 

http://www.esterbrook.net/collection/henrybirksimprint.jpg

 

Any info anybody has would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Brian

[Tick Talk]

I can provide some background info regarding the Canadian jewellery stores from my interest in pocket watches. The Birks family immigrated to Montreal from Yorkshire, England, in 1832, bringing their wealth and a history of manufacturing cutlery for British royalty and the upper classes since the sixteenth century. Henry Birks was born in 1841. He apprenticed with the top jewellers of the pre-confederation Province of Canada, Savage & Lyman, at the age of 17. He soon became a buyer and travelled to Europe on behalf of the firm, rising to full partner by 1868. Henry went on to establish his own store, Henry Birks & Co., in 1879 and, in partnership with his three sons, re-incorporated as Henry Birks & Sons in 1893.

 

Birks absorbed several luxury jewellery stores as they expanded west, beginning with Ottawa in 1901. Ryrie Brothers of Toronto amalgamated with Henry Birks & Sons in 1917. Another Toronto jeweller, Ellis Brothers, amalgamated with Ryrie Birks in 1933 to become Birks Ellis Ryrie, advertising themselves as Canada’s Largest Jewellery Store. D. R. Dingwall of Winnipeg was taken over by Henry Birks & Sons in about 1919 and renamed Birks-Dingwall. Other well-known Canadian jewellery and watch retailers that were absorbed by Birks included D.E. Black of Calgary and O.B. Alan of Vancouver. Birks gained a reputation as the Tiffany's of the North.

 

Henry Birks died in his beloved Montreal in 1928, to be succeeded by his son William, then William’s son Henry. After five successive generations of family management, Henry Birks & Sons was acquired by the Italian Regaluxe Investment group in 1993. The Tiffany comparison was given further credibility with the appointment of Thomas Andruskevich as President and Chief Executive Officer in 1996. Mr. Andruskevich served with Tiffany & Co. from 1982 to 1994 in several capacities including Senior Vice President and CFO. The company took controlling interest in the U.S. jewellery chain Mayor’s in 2002. Hope this helps!

[Postscript]

I can provide some background info regarding the Canadian jewellery stores from my interest in pocket watches. The Birks family immigrated to Montreal from Yorkshire, England, in 1832, bringing their wealth and a history of manufacturing cutlery for British royalty and the upper classes since the sixteenth century. Henry Birks was born in 1841. He apprenticed with the top jewellers of the pre-confederation Province of Canada, Savage & Lyman, at the age of 17. He soon became a buyer and travelled to Europe on behalf of the firm, rising to full partner by 1868. Henry went on to establish his own store, Henry Birks & Co., in 1879 and, in partnership with his three sons, re-incorporated as Henry Birks & Sons in 1893.

 

Birks absorbed several luxury jewellery stores as they expanded west, beginning with Ottawa in 1901. Ryrie Brothers of Toronto amalgamated with Henry Birks & Sons in 1917. Another Toronto jeweller, Ellis Brothers, amalgamated with Ryrie Birks in 1933 to become Birks Ellis Ryrie, advertising themselves as Canada’s Largest Jewellery Store. D. R. Dingwall of Winnipeg was taken over by Henry Birks & Sons in about 1919 and renamed Birks-Dingwall. Other well-known Canadian jewellery and watch retailers that were absorbed by Birks included D.E. Black of Calgary and O.B. Alan of Vancouver. Birks gained a reputation as the Tiffany's of the North.

 

Henry Birks died in his beloved Montreal in 1928, to be succeeded by his son William, then William’s son Henry. After five successive generations of family management, Henry Birks & Sons was acquired by the Italian Regaluxe Investment group in 1993. The Tiffany comparison was given further credibility with the appointment of Thomas Andruskevich as President and Chief Executive Officer in 1996. Mr. Andruskevich served with Tiffany & Co. from 1982 to 1994 in several capacities including Senior Vice President and CFO. The company took controlling interest in the U.S. jewellery chain Mayor’s in 2002. Hope this helps!

 

Thank you for that background. I have one of their pocket watches--an oversized demonstration model--in my PW collection. I knew about the company but not to the degree that you shared with us. Now I'll have to find a pen to match.

 

Post Script

[Scrawler]

There is still a Henry Birks & Sons jewelers in the Rideau Center in Ottawa. I have quite a few of their characteristic blue boxes, in which they package items, here in the house.

[Tick Talk]

LOL, my wife and daughters have a serious addiction to those little blue boxes! They usually come stuffed with expensive items ;-) On the Birks ephemera topic, this Birks pocket knife accompanies a vintage pocket watch to very nice effect I think...

 

Edited December 26, 2011 by Tick Talk

[Scrawler]

Tick Talk, Would you like a few of my boxes then

I am afraid they will be sans contents though. I will be keeping my silver cigar cutter and all the little bits of ephemera that cam in them.

[Redbarchettayyz]

LOL, my wife and daughters have a serious addiction to those little blue boxes! They usually come stuffed with expensive items ;-) On the Birks ephemera topic, this Birks pocket knife accompanies a vintage pocket watch to very nice effect I think...

 

 

Tick Tack, that's an absolutely stunning VC pocketwatch! May I ask how old it is?

[Tweel]

Whoever made the pen deserves recognition.

Are the black initials engraved and filled in?

[rwilsonedn]

The OP wrote:

" I thought initially this may be an Aikin Lambert made pen as it closely resembles even a pattern from Waterman 0314 pens of the period, but upon receipt notice the filigree work is not as clean as I would expect Aikin made pens to be."

Do I understand correctly that often in this period jewelers would purchase the pen barrel from a pen manufacturer, and then make the precious-metal overlay, and sometimes the nib, themselves? If so the barrel could very well be from Aikin or Waterman, and the overlay made by Birks.

ron

 

--edited for splng

Edited December 27, 2011 by rwilsonedn

[Brian Anderson]

I'm not exactly sure how this was done, but yes, that could have been the case. However, the overlay is very crudely cut, which leads me to wonder if the overlay wasn't purchased as well, but uncut. You can see cut marks which aren't careful, not filed down, etc. Makes me want to take off the overlay and do a little filing to it to make it better. However, this is the same pattern (I'm pretty sure) as seen on more expensive pens, just done better. Had Aikin made this overlay it would most certainly been much cleaner.

 

The mystery continues!

Brian

[T. E. Samad]

It's amazing how a trade can be passed down through the succeeding generations of a family. And, interestingly, I was born in Yorkshire, England!