Susanna Barker Explained

Susanna Barker
Nationality:	English
Occupation:	Silversmith

Susanna (sometimes Susannah) Barker was an English silversmith.

Classified as a smallworker, Barker worked in London, registering her date mark on 25 June 1778. A second mark was registered on 12 August 1789, with a third following on 26 August the same year. At one time she worked out of a shop at 16 Gutter Lane; from 1790 until 1793 she is recorded as working as a goldsmith at 29 Gutter Lane.^[1] Silversmith Robert Barker, who registered his own mark in 1793, may have been her son.^[2] Barker specialized in the making of wine labels,^[1] and was noted especially for her star-shaped and eye-shaped designs.^[3]

Three wine labels by Barker, dated to 1792, are owned by the National Museum of Women in the Arts.^[1] The Victoria and Albert Museum owns a silver bottle ticket by her, dated to around 1800.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Book: Philippa Glanville. Jennifer Faulds Goldsborough. National Museum of Women in the Arts (U.S.). Women Silversmiths, 1685-1845: Works from the Collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. registration. 1990. Thames and Hudson. 978-0-500-23578-2.
2. Web site: Susanna Barker. Mar 5, 2019.
3. Book: John Salter. Wine Labels, 1730-2003: A Worldwide History. 2004. Antique Collectors' Club. 978-1-85149-459-0.
4. Web site: Bottle ticket | Barker, Susanna | V&A Search the Collections. Mar 5, 2019. V and A Collections. Mar 5, 2019.