The Meriden Britannia Company was formed in 1852 in
Meriden, Connecticut
Meriden ( ) is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the South Central Connecticut Planni ...
, as a manufacturing company focused on producing wares in
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition, officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876. It was the first official wo ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
in that year. The company won the First Place medal for plated wares. According to
Sotheby's
Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
in
New York
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Chicago
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San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
(134 Sutter Street);
London
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Paris
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, France (26
Avenue de l'Opéra
The Avenue de l'Opéra () was created from 1864 to 1879 as part of Haussmann's renovation of Paris. It is situated in the center of the city, running northwest from the Louvre to the Palais Garnier, the primary opera house of Paris (until the ope ...
). The main factories were in Meriden and a branch factory was in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
, Canada.
By 1893, the company had expanded production with its floor surface covering over eight acres of space in downtown Meriden.
In 1898, the Meriden Britannia Company became part of the larger
International Silver Company
The International Silver Company (1898–1983, stopped making silver), later known as Insilco Corporation and also known as the ISC, was formed in Meriden, Connecticut as a corporation banding together many existing silver companies in the i ...
corporation headquartered in Meriden.(undated) "A Guide to the International Silver Company Records, 1853-1921" University of Connecticut libraries website. Retrieved August 27, 2016. Afterwards, while part of ISC, many designs were produced under the Meriden Britannia brand with design trade catalogues specifying Meriden Britannia wares.
Meriden Britannia Company designs are included in many museum collections, including the
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...
, New York;
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...
;
Davis Museum at Wellesley College
The Davis Museum is an art museum located on the Wellesley College campus in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The college art collection was first displayed in the Farnsworth Art Building, founded in 1889. The museum in its present form opened in 1993 ...
, MA;
Jewish Museum (Manhattan)
The Jewish Museum is an art museum housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the Felix M. Warburg House, along the Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The museum holds a collection of approximately 30,000 objects, including ...
, New York;
Wadsworth Atheneum
The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionism, Impressionist paintings, Hudson Riv ...
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
Yale University Art Gallery
The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...
, New Haven, CT.(March 14, 2016) "Meriden Britannia Company designs in collections, at auction, and in exhibitions" ''artdesigncafe''. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
Recent museum exhibitions featuring Meriden Britannia designs include ''Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'' (2008–12) at the Yale University Art Gallery, and travelled to Louisville, KY; Seattle, WA; and Birmingham, AL. In 1994-95, Meriden Britannia was included in the Dallas Museum of Art's ''Silver in America, 1840-1940: A century of splendor'' exhibition, and in 1986-87 at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
's exhibition ''In pursuit of beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement''. In 1985, Meriden Britannia was included in a special exhibition at the
Palace of Ajuda
A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...
, Lisbon, Portugal, which was organized on the occasion of U.S. President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...