Born in Connecticut in 1815, Robert Wallace was the son of Scottish immigrants, who also worked in silver. At 16, Wallace began apprenticing with spoon-maker Captain William Mix, a well-known craftsman who worked for the Meriden Britannia Co. Wallace opened his own workshop in 1833, focusing on silver spoons. The following year, Wallace approached German chemist Louis Feuchtwanger to learn more about the durable metal called “German silver.” Also known as nickel silver, the alloy’s principal component is copper and, in fact, it contains no silver at all. Wallace is considered the first American metalsmith to make spoons out of German silver, which he supplied to Hall, Elton & Co. Beginning in 1849, Wallace began diversifying his product lines to add other forms of flatware. By 1855, in partnership with Samuel Simpson, Wallace was doing business as Robert Wallace & Co., though the firm was renamed Wallace, Simpson & Co. in 1865. However, in 1871, Wallace bought out his partner, renamed the company R. Wallace & Sons, and established a second business, known as Wallace Brothers, with his sons and sons-in-law. R. Wallace and Sons added silver to its inventory, introducing three lines of sterling silver flatware—Hawthorne, The Crown, and St. Leon—while Wallace Brothers focused on silver-plated flatware. The two businesses were merged in 1879 and the Wallace name began to gain wider recognition for its silver projects. Though Robert Wallace died in 1892, the younger generation of Wallaces continued to grow the company, such that Wallace was the largest silver flatware producer in the world at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The company made flatware and hollowware in both sterling and silverplate, as well as items such as souvenir spoons and pin cushion holders. In the 1930s, Wallace improved its mass-production techniques and released the first of William Warren’s famous series of “Third Dimension Beauty” flatware patterns, named for the ornate 3-D quality of their designs, which are visible from the front, back, and profile of the pieces. The series of six eventually included Rose Point (1934), Sir Christopher (1936), Stradivari (1937), Grande Baroque (1941), Grand Colonial (1942), and Romance of the Sea (1951). Warren regularly incorporated roses in his designs, like those seen on the silverplate line Roseanne (1932) or the silverware pattern Royal Rose (1962). However, it was Wallace’s Grand Baroque pattern—with its lush scrollwork, acanthus motifs, and perforated stems—that became the biggest hit, remaining one of the best selling silverware patterns to this day. Wallace adapted the Grand Baroque pattern for several holloware items as well, including silver serving bowls, coffee pots, and tea sets. In 1947, Warren published a book on his design work for the company titled “Wallace Beauty Moods in Silver.” The company was renamed again in 1956, this time as Wallace Silversmiths, and relocated its headquarters to Wallingford, Connecticut after purchasing the Watson Company's factory there. During the 1950s, Wallace acquired two other silver manufacturers—the Tuttle Silver Company and Smith & Smith. Wallace was owned by the Hamilton Watch Company from 1959 to 1983, then traded hands multiple times before ending up as part of Lifetime Brands in 2006.