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In 1851 Michael Joseph Platnauer and Samuel Platnauer were in partnership as J&S Platnauer.  They were clock manufacturers, watchmakers and supplied tools and materials to others in those trades.  By 1858 they had brought their younger brothers, George and Louis into the firm and were known as Platnauer Brothers. I am trying to find out in which year(s) George and Louis joined.  If anyone has access to Bristol Directories in the period 1852 to 1857 and could see how the firm was styled in those years I would be very grateful.

Dear All,

I have been looking at some images of the jewelry of the Phillips Brothers on the web.  It is stunning stuff at eye-watering prices.  And I discovered that he had top notch customers.

Jewels discovered in Thebes in 1859 were exhibited in London in 1863.  At much the same time the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) visited Thebes.  On his return he married Princess Alexandra of Denmark.  He commissioned Robert Phillips to create a suite of jewels based on the Egyptian discoveries as a wedding gift to his bride.  In a marble bust of the Princess of Wales by Mary Thornycroft the only ornament that she is wearing is a scarab brooch by Robert Phillips.

With his skill and the status that must have come with supplying Royal customers he was very well set up by the mid 1860s.

David

I have been re-reading some of the earlier posts with the benefit of my (now) better understanding of the family and there is a loose end that I would like to follow up.  In Reply #80 Justin said:

"Only yesterday, I discovered that Joseph Phillips had previously been married to Frances Friedeberg, i.e. Esther's sister. Frances died or was buried on 6 Sep 1834. Her address was Merthyr Tydfil !!"

Could someone help me with the source of this information?  Do we know if Joseph and Frances had any children?  I assume that they lived in London because of Joseph's work there so why did Frances die in Merthyr? (although it is on a route between family in Swansea and family in Abergavenny.)  What else do we know about Esther and Frances's family?

Regards,

David

Sir Claude Phillips, the first Keeper of the Wallace Collection, was probably the most distinguished son of Robert Abraham Phillips and Helen Levy.  Here is his Wikipedia entry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Phillips

It was mentioned a few pages back that Abraham Phillips's youngest daughter, Helen, married Martin Carl Schletter of Birmingham in 1843.  He had been born in Loslau, Silesia in Prussia about 1804 and, according to his naturalisation papers filed in 1853, he had resided in Birmingham from about 1833. He manufactured brass bedsteads for a while, then colours and settled as a general merchant.  He must have traveled abroad quite a bit judging from the number of passports that he applied for and he died overseas in Venice on 27 December 1861.  Martin did well financially, leaving an estate worth over £4 million in 2020 pounds.  Helen and Martin had at least four children: Pauline (b 16 September 1845), Henry (b 13 July 1847), Amelia (b 31 March 1854) and Percy (b 4 August 1855) who were baptised together at St Marks Marylebone on 16 March 1859. 

I don't know what happened to the other children but Percy married a ship-owner's daughter in Liverpool in 1896 and went on to become a Colonel in the British Army.  He died in Angola and here is his memorial in Toxteth Park Cemetery:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183643282/percy-schletter

Culturally there is quite a journey from Abraham's father to his grandson, Percy.