Spiers and Son; Spiers & Company

102-103 High Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire; papier mâché furniture & object makers, retailers (fl.1851-62)

Retailers of papier mâché objects and furniture, some of which were made by the firm and some by other makers. Their stand at the 1851 Great Exhibition displayed tables, cabinets, fire and hand screens, work boxes and card-trays, all with views of Oxford. The firescreen, illustrated with a view of the ‘Martyrs Monument’, was specially praised. The Standard, 1851, recorded that ‘Messrs Spiers ‘devoted their energies and talents to the illustration of their noble city and its vicinity’ and their work was further described in 1855 as ‘a manifestly wholesome departure from the cockatoo and peacock style hitherto so much in vogue’. Spiers & Son Also participated at the Irish Industrial Exhibition, Dublin, 1853 (Class XXVI, Exhibitor No. 77).  The firm exhibited ‘ornamental furniture for the writing table’ including boxes, caskets, inkstands, and washstands in the 1862 International Exhibition, London.

Sources: Sproule, The Irish Industrial Exhibition in 1853 (1854); Aslin, 19th Century English Furniture (1962); Meyer, Great Exhibitions. London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia.  1851-1900 (2006); 1862 International Exhibition Catalogue.