The following information has been gleaned from my book, Overview of Siam Sterling Nielloware.

The jewelry and related items called “Siam sterling Nielloware” are unique, attractive, and fascinating collectibles. These gray-black (charcoal black) and silver items reflect facets of recent and ancient Thai culture, and illustrate skillful Thai craftsmanship. From the early 1930s to the late 1990s, hundreds of types of Niello items, from jewelry to kitchen and household items, were created, primarily for the foreign market.

                                         

Although a small number of Niello items had been handcrafted in Thailand for hundreds of years, it was only from about 1930 that the focus of Nielloware production changed to the “mass production” of exported items,

         

Only a limited number of non-jewelry, rather expensive items (such as urns and tea sets) are still commercially available, crafted by just one company  (Thai Nakon, the “original” commercial Nielloware producer).  Very few Niello jewelry items are currently crafted anywhere in Thailand. There are, sadly, almost no Niello craftsmen left to continue this Thai national tradition.


How Nielloware Is Created

Technically “Niello” or the Thai “Nielloware,” (or, as written in some English language Thai publications, “Niello Ware”), these items are created using two distinct processes.

First, the Niello amalgam is created. Although formulas for the Thai Niello amalgam filling have varied; each includes 50% sulphur. The two recipes I’ve come across are:

  Silver     Copper     Lead
 12 parts     2 parts     1 part
   3 parts     5 parts     6 parts

These metals are melted at about 300 degrees C. for about four hours, and then the sulphur is added and mixed with the metals. After the mixture cools and dries, it is crushed to small pellets, which can then be used or stored for future use.

Second, the sterling silver item is shaped, carved and chiseled (or acid etched), forming the silver design. The Niello amalgam, mixed with soldering flux, is then heated and “painted” on the carved areas of the item, baked at high temperature, then smoothed by filing and sandpapering, then polished, usually with charcoal and metal polishing wax, and finally washed and wiped clean.

It appears that only Thailand used the Niello process primarily as a background to its compositions on sterling items; other countries used Niello mainly as accents to their silver (and gold) designs.

History of Nielloware

The age of the earliest Niello items is not accurately known, dating back at least 2,000 years. Some researchers believe Niello was originally produced in Egypt (or in Crete), possibly as far back as the 4th century B.C. Two early items are housed in the British Museum, one from 101-102 A.D. and the other from the 4th century A.D. These items appear to have originated in Italy, which produced Niello items for many centuries. At its peak of popularity in Italy, the Florentine goldsmith, Maso Finiguerra produced a large number of Niello objects.  
Russia and a variety of Near East provinces also produced early Nielloware, sometimes employing gold instead of silver. Russian Niello was produced during the tenth to thirteenth centuries, and during Tsarist times (1880s through about 1905), as well as some minor production to the present time.

 Early Russian Niello items included religious objects (chalices, crosses, and the like), as well as a variety of utilitarian items (such as boxes, knife handles, belt buckles, dinner table accessories, and related items), and even now produce small quantities of these items.  Many examples still exist of Tsarist Russian Niello jewelry; spoons, belt buckles, cigarette cases, containers and related items. One American company imports modern Russian Niello (from the mid-1900s); their catalog is the “Sovietski Collection.” The company also has a Web site, www.sovietski.com. And one Russian company, the Silverware Web-Shop, still produces and sells a wide variety of Russian niello items. Their Web site is www.zoloto-serebro.ru.


Further information, including a pricing matrix, is available at my website, www.siamman.com.