A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with precious metals, usually, to make jewelry, valuable flatware, platters, goblets, decorative and serviceable utensils, as well as ceremonial or religious items. Goldsmiths must be skilled in forming metal through filing, soldering, piercing, sawing, forging, casting, and polishing metal. Traditionally, these skills had been passed along through apprenticeships, however, more recently Jewelry Arts Schools specializing solely in teaching goldsmithing and a multitude of skills falling under the jewelry arts umbrella are now available. Many Universities and Junior Colleges also offer goldsmithing, silversmithing and metal arts fabrication as a part of their fine arts curriculum. Today, it is not uncommon for a goldsmith to study other arts in order to reflect the social implications of the products of the trade. Gold and precious metals have been worked by humans in all cultures where the metals were available, either indigenously or imported, and the history of these activities is extensive. Superbly made objects from the ancient cultures of Europe, Africa, India, Asia, South America, Mesoamerica, and North America grace museums and collections around the world. In medieval Europe goldsmiths were organized in guilds and were usually one of the most important and wealthy of the guilds in a city. The guild kept records of members and the marks they used on their products. These records are very useful to historians, where they to survive. Goldsmiths often acted as bankers, since they dealt in gold and had sufficient security for the safe storage of valuable items. In the Middle Ages, goldsmithing normally included silversmithing as well, but the brass workers and workers in other base metals were normally in a separate guild since the trades were not allowed to overlap. Usually jewelers were goldsmiths. The printmaking technique of engraving developed among goldsmiths in Germany around 1430, who had long used the technique on their metal pieces. The notable engravers of the 1400s either were goldsmiths, as was Master E. S., or the sons of goldsmiths, such as Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer. For some insight into the work goldsmiths might do see bench jeweler.
Some goldsmiths
See also
- Gold as an investment
- old master print, engraving, and niello - goldsmith's techniques or related trades in the Middle Ages
- Bench jeweler
- Toreutics
- Persian-Sassanide art patterns
- Jewelers' Row
- Silver (household)
 Metalworking |
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| Metalworking smiths | Smiths • Blacksmith • Coppersmith • Goldsmith • Gunsmith • Locksmith • Pewtersmith • Silversmith • Bladesmith • Tinsmith • Whitesmith |
| Metalworking tools | Anvil • Forge • Fuller • Hardy hole • Hardy tools • Pritchel • Slack tub • Steam hammer • Swage block • Trip hammer |
| Metalworking topics | Casting • CNC • Cutting tools • Drilling and threading • Fabrication • Forging • Grinding • Jewellery • Lathe • Machining • Machine tooling • Measuring • Metalworking • Hand tools • Metallurgy • Milling • Occupations • Press tools • Pipe and Tube bending • Smithing • Terminology • Welding |
