Amy Alice Wilkins was born in 1876, in London. She studied sculpture and enamelling at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London under the guidance of chief instructor W. Augustus Steward. In 1907, she married Julius Woolfe Sandheim, a fellow colleague and silversmith. A year later, in 1908, Julius’ father, David Sandheim, and uncle, Abraham Sandheim, entered the mark of Sandheim Bros and, by the end of the year, they opened a shop at 130 High Street, Notting Hill Gate, in West London. It is at this address where, in 1908, Amy set up her jewellery workshop and ‘postal business through recommendations.'
Amy Sandheim has often described her work as being ‘artistic’ and ‘peasant.’ The ‘artistic’ refers to the Art Nouveau/ Arts and Crafts movement, bringing art and nature in objects of everyday use. The ‘peasant’ refers to Amy’s love for the English Pre-Raphaelite paintings, bringing an abundance of intense colours, sculptural details and composition to her jewellery and silver. In both of these movements, we can find an interest in zodiac signs and supernatural energies. Art was to be valued for their capacity to engender a sensual response in the individual itself (usually the buyer), and not for their moral, social or ethical motifs. It is worth noting here the work of Edward Burne-Jones and Alphonse Muncha, particularly the latter’s ‘Zodiac,’ made in 1896 for the Champenois’ 1897 calendar. The work features a striking profile of a woman against the harmonious working of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
No surviving piece of Amy’s silver or jewellery are exactly alike, as these were made to suit the individuality of the wearer. In her own words, ‘we do almost no duplicates.’ In one article from June 1923, published in The Christian Science Monitor, she goes at length to explain this vision: ‘I began my career as a sculptress and therefore love shape, and aim at getting sculptural jewellery. Directly I see a person, I know just what shaped ornament will suit her.’ (June, 1923, p.18). The theme of individuality also guided Amy in her endeavour to teach other women the craft and art of jewellery making, including her own sister, Frances Charlotte Harling (nee Wilkins). By 1923, she was training 14 other women. Asked if she felt a sense of competition, she replied that ‘the work is so individual that they could not harm me, nor I harm them.’ Indeed, her sister would go on and open her own jewellery and silver shop, under her own registered mark, at 85 Heath Street, in Hamstead. We can argue, with modern knowledge, that her atelier was a critical site where ideas about art, expertise and gender were reworked, enabling a network of women to play an influential role in disseminating the English Arts and Crafts ethos. Research is ongoing regarding the names and later influence of these women.
The year of 1923, when the interview took place, is important. This is the year when Amy Sandheim has registered her own mark, AS with a vertical stroke contained within a semi-circular punch, with the London Assay Office. The interview took place in June, while the registration happened in August. For 16 years, up until 1939, she will go on in producing some of the most sculptural, original and elegant pieces of silver. Silver pieces under her own name are few and far between, but we are proud to offer a beautiful napkin ring representing the fifth sign of the zodiac, Leo, flanked by two red carnelians. The napkin ring is hallmarked for London, for the year 1933.
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