Stephen Guernsey Cook Ensko

Stephen Guernsey Cook Ensko

Ensko circa 1950-1960
Born (1896-05-09)May 9, 1896
Manhattan
Died December 18, 1969(1969-12-18) (aged 73)
Manhattan
Occupation Silver expert
Spouse(s) Dorothea (m. 1918)
Children Dorothea Charlotte Ensko (1920- )
Stephen W. Ensko (1922-1944)
Alice Elizabeth Ensko (1924-1999)
Parent(s) Robert Ensko (1855-1934)
Mary Elizabeth Blakeley (1857-?)

Stephen Guernsey Cook Ensko (May 9, 1896 – December 18, 1969) also known as Stephen G.C. Ensko, was an expert on American antique silver. His book is the standard reference work for antique silver.[1]

Biography

Stephen was born in 1896 in New York City to Robert Ensko (1855–1934) and Mary Elizabeth Blakeley (1857–?). His siblings include: Robert Ensko II (1880–1971) who worked as a lace dealer; Charlotte Ensko (1882-?) who married Milton Ernest Horn (1876–1929); Lamont Northrope Ensko (1890–1987) who worked in the family silver business; Elathene Amanda Ensko (1898–1981) who married George Robert Christie (1895–1996); and William Edward Ensko (c1900–1918) who was a sergeant in the US Army who was killed in a car accident in France during World War I.[2]

Stephen married Dorothea J. Winterloff (1892–1977) of Germany on June 4, 1918 in Manhattan and they had three children: Dorothea Charlotte Ensko (1920– ) who married Vernon Charles Wyle (1913–1986);[3] Stephen William Ensko (1922–1945) who was a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army who was killed in action in World War II; and Alice Elizabeth Ensko (1924-1999) who married George M. Keller II on December 24, 1944, and later married Alfred Woodward (1913-2007), the Illinois judge.[4][5]

Stephen registered for the draft on June 5, 1918 but he did not serve. At the time he was working as an antique dealer at 598 Madison Avenue, and he was living in Freeport, New York on Long Island.[6]

At the death of his father in 1934, Stephen took over Robert Ensko, Inc. which had its showroom at 682 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. He continued to commission the creation of reproductions of antique silver, to be sold under the Ensko name.

He reissued and updated his father's book Makers of Early American Silver and published it as American Silversmiths and their Marks in 1927. The first edition was limited to 310 copies, and as told in Robert Alan Green's book on American Silversmith's marks, many of the first edition copies were destroyed in an accident. The 1992 edition had the following introduction:

In the world of American silver, one book has remained the indispensable reference guide, the quintessential vade mecum for any serious collector. This is Ensko's American Silversmiths and Their Marks, first compiled in 1915 by Robert Ensko, revised and enlarged by his son Stephen in 1927, again reissued with corrections and additional names and marks as Ensko III in 1948, and now available in this elegantly printed and up-to-date fourth edition. ... Their New York firm, founded in 1878 and finally dissolved in 1970, was central to the study and appreciation of fine American silver, and, in the world of collectors, the Ensko name was synonymous with high quality and taste. ...[7]

Ensko published a second edition of the book in 1937 and a third in 1948. He also published English Silver 1675-1825 in 8 volumes in 1937.

Death

Stephen died in 1969 in New York City. His widow, Dorothea, died in 1977 in Wheaton, Illinois.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Stephen G.C. Ensko". New York Times. December 19, 1969. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  2. ↑ "Sergeant William E. Ensko", Brooklyn Eagle, August 15, 1918, Mrs. Mary E. Ensko, of 1383 Dean street, has been notified by the War Department that her son, Sergeant William Edward Ensko of Company A, 318th Pioneer Engineers, was killed in an automobile accident at the front on July 28. He was born in New York City, 30 years ago, where he was educated. Sergeant Ensko resigned a responsible position to enlist at Port Slocum last September. He lived at Freeport, L. I., where he was a member of the Freeport Lodge of Elks. A brother, Corporal La Mont N. Ensko, is in France with Company B, 304th Machine Gun Battalion.
  3. ↑ "Dorothea Ensko Wed to Officer in Navy. Wheaton College Alumna Bride of Lieutenant Commander Vernon C. Wyle.". New York Times. June 4, 1944. Retrieved 2007-08-21. The marriage of Miss Dorothea Charlotte Ensko, daughter of Mr. and Mrs Stephen Ensko of 14 Sutton Place South, to Lieutenant Commander Vernon Charles Wyle, United States Naval Reserve, son of Charles F. Wyle of Chicago and the late Mrs. Wyle ...
  4. ↑ "Alice Ensko Bride of G. M. Keller, Jr. Has 3 Attendants at Marriage to Lieutenant in Air Arm Who Served in Pacific.". New York Times. December 24, 1944.
  5. ↑ "Keller-Ensko Ceremony Solemnized in New York.". Washington Post. December 24, 1944. In the chapel of St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, yesterday at 4 p.m. the wedding of Miss Alice Elizabeth Ensko, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C.G. Ensko, New York, and Lieutenant (jg.) George Montieth Keller, Jr., of Washington, took place. The Rev. Dr. George Paull T. Sargent officiated.
  6. ↑ World War I draft registration
  7. ↑ Ensko, Stephen G.C. American Silversmiths and Their Marks. ISBN 0-87923-778-3.

The Ensko books

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