A pair of novelty silver dishes, Ellis Jacob Greenberg for Ellis & Co. (Birmingham) Ltd., London 1929

According to an advertisement in The Watchmaker, Jeweller, and Silversmiths’ Trade Journal (London, 1 January 1912, p. 56), Ellis & Co. (Birmingham) Ltd., registered as such in 1909, was established in 1812. The firm probably justified this stat.mes nt because of a series of take-overs prior to the acquisition of premises in Frederick Street, Birmingham by the Russian-born factor and jeweller, Simeon Greenberg (1830-1881) and his brother, Israel Sigmund Greenberg (1845-1926). As Ellis & Co., the business was conducted by various members of the Greenberg family, including I.S. Greenberg’s son, Ellis Jacob Greenberg (1879-1931). The latter first entered marks (EJ/G in a shield-shaped punch) on behalf of Ellis & Co. in London, Birmingham and Sheffield in 1906. Ellis’s 1912 advertisement further stated that the company specialised in ‘Reproductions of Old Sheffield Plate of every description from our own dies, originally the property of the Soho Plate Works [i.e. the successors of the Matthew Boulton & Plate Co.].’

Following Ellis Jacob Greenberg’s death, Ellis & Co. (Birmingham) Ltd. was absorbed by Barker Brothers Silversmiths Ltd., predecessors of Barker Ellis Silver Co. Ltd.