Crichton Brothers
( Circa 1890 - 1938 )
This business, dealers in antique silver and retail silversmiths, appears to have been established c.1890 by Lionel Alfred Crichton at 29 Church Street, Kensington. They subsequently opened West End premises at 22 Old Bond Street, where but for a short period of re-building in 1905/06, the firm remained until closing in the 1950s. Crichton Brothers also had branches at 636 Fifth Avenue, New York, and 622 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, USA. In 1912 the firm held an exhibition at their premises of rare old silver, mostly English, including thirty plain dinner plates dated 1683, engraved with the arms of the Duke of Dorset. In addition to antique silver, Crichton Brothers were well-known for their stock of fine quality reproduction silver, the majority of which appears to have been in late 17th/early 18th century English style including flat-chased chinoiserie dressing table sets and cast candlesticks. The sometime partners in Crichton Brothers were Lionel Alfred Crichton, Edward Richard du Parcq and Philip Alexander Solomon Phillips until the latter retired in 1919. L.A. Crichton, who had been a well-known bidder at sales for forty years, died after two years' illness at the age of 72 in 1938. His estate, totalling £182,300, included a collection of pictures which his executors had instructions to offer the Victoria & Albert Museum providing they were hung in a room wherein old English silver was also displayed