Speer, George

‘The Seven Stars’, 2 Great Tower Street, London; cabinet maker and upholsterer (b.1736–d. 1802)

Speer was made free of the London Upholders’ Company on 6 March 1771, under the terms of the 1750 Upholders’ Act. He did not appear in London directories until 1777.

Image

Copyright (Attribution/Credit)

British Museum

Trade card of George Speer at the Seven Stars N^o 2, Great Tower Street London. Makes & Sells Desks, Book Cases, Chests of Drawers, Bureaus & all Sorts of Looking Glass frames. Also Venetian, Spring & all sorts of Window Blinds, Mahogany, Wallnuttree & other Chairs, Breakfast, Dining & Card Tables, Tea Chests, Tea Boards, Waiters, &c. Looking Glass For Exportation. With all sorts of Carpeting & Floor Cloths. Upholsterer & Cabinet Work Performed in General. Funerals Furnished Goods Apprais'd, c.1780 [Heal,28.215]. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Initially Speer may have been associated with John Speer his cousin, who traded for part of the time at the same address as a joiner and cabinet maker. The Rococo frames of the trade cards of these two makers are identical. George Speer died in 1802 though his name appears in Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary, 1803 in the list of master cabinet makers. It is possible that his son, George jnr. continued the business.

Attributed furniture

Image

Copyright (Attribution/Credit)

V&A

Mahogany bureau bookcase cabinet, c. 1761 [W.6-1980]. Given by Miss D. Watson in memory of her mother, Virginia Watson, and of her brother, John Nicholas Watson. ©  Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

• A mahogany kneehole desk
• A secretaire bookcase with glazed doors with George Speer's trade label attached (Figs 35–36). 
• A mahogany side table of about 1770 with the printed Iabel of George Speer is in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle (illus., Kirkham, Furniture History (1988), figs 28 and 29).
• A labelled mahogany bureau bookcase and a serpentine chest of drawers are illustrated in Gilbert (1996), figs 876-877, sold Sotheby’s 13 Nov 1987, lot 48 and 1 Feb 1980, lot 128.

Sources: DEFM; Kirkham, ‘The London Furniture Trade 1700-1870’, Furniture History (1988); Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840 (1996).