Reed & Barton

Know the business

The useful overview.

The company’s ancestry begins with Babbitt & Crossman’s Britannia-ware business in 1824. Old Colony History Museum dates Leonard, Reed & Barton to 1837 and the shorter Reed & Barton name to 1840. It describes a move into electroplating from 1848 and the later addition of sterling silver. These are stages in a manufacturing history, not interchangeable founding dates for one unchanged legal entity.[1]

The objects make that progression tangible. The Metropolitan Museum of Art records a pewter coffeepot made by Leonard, Reed & Barton in Taunton in 1837–40. Its material matters: an early piece associated with this famous silver name is not necessarily silver. The museum’s attribution and date apply to that particular coffeepot, accession 1985.343.3, rather than every object carrying a similar name.[7]

Reed & Barton’s design history also includes acquired patterns and outside designers. The museum history records its 1928 purchase of Dominick & Haff, bringing Pointed Antique into the business, and collaborations with Eliel Saarinen and Belle Kogan. Gio Ponti’s Diamond design was adapted by John Prip and Theodore Cayer before its 1958 debut.[1]

The independent business’s bankruptcy and the survival of its brand should be read separately. On May 14, 2015, Lenox announced that it had bought operating assets and certain liabilities of Reed & Barton. This was an asset transaction, not evidence that the old factory, workforce or production arrangements continued unchanged.[5][4]

Lenox’s current brand page presents Reed & Barton across flatware, barware, ornaments and gifts. That is the appropriate official starting point for the modern brand. A historical pattern name or museum attribution does not establish the material, origin, maker or availability of a newly offered object.[6]

The research trail is unusually rich. RISD Fleet Library holds catalogs and design and technical drawings. Old Colony’s linked-archives guide distinguishes these from business records at Harvard’s Baker Library and drawings, orders and photographs at Winterthur. A collector can therefore pursue a shape in design records, a model in catalogs and a business question in company papers rather than expecting one mark chart to answer everything.[4][3]

Names & chapters

How the story developed.

1. 1824

   Britannia-ware roots

   Babbitt & Crossman begins the manufacturing lineage.[1]

2. 1837–1840

   The familiar name takes shape

   Leonard, Reed & Barton precedes the shorter Reed & Barton name.[1]

3. 2015

   Assets acquired by Lenox

   Lenox announces the completed purchase on May 14.[5]

Follow an interest

What to explore.

• Historical sterling silver
• Historical silverplate
• Flatware
• Hollowware
• Giftware

Check the details

Before you buy.

Read the current item and checkout terms. These notes summarize dated company policies, not a promise about your order. Applicable consumer rights still matter.

Open the references

Research this name.

1. Museum / archive record

   Explore the virtual archive

   Start with the museum’s guide to dispersed collections.[2]

   Catalogs and drawings need to be matched to the exact object.

2. Museum / archive record

   Study RISD design records

   Browse catalogs, technical drawings and other company material.[4]

   A design drawing does not prove a particular example was manufactured.

3. Museum / archive record

   Compare a museum-recorded sterling mark

   Read the coffee spoon’s material and mark transcription.[8]

   This is one documented object, not a complete mark chronology.

4. Museum / archive record

   Compare a documented plated frame

   See how a museum records a mixed-maker glass-and-metal set.[9]

   Do not treat the frame attribution as an attribution of the glass.

5. Company announcement, 2015-05-14

   Read the 2015 acquisition announcement

   Distinguish purchased assets from an unchanged historical company.[5]

   The announcement describes 2015 plans, not current stock.