Heintz Sterling on Bronze

This bronze inkwell made in the Heintz Art Metal Shop features a silver overlay design of plant stems and leaves. Missing is the insert.

Otto Heintz took over the Art Crafts Shop in Buffalo around 1903 and renamed it the Heintz Art Metal Shop. The shop produced an extensive line of metalware, including inkwells, vases, bowls, desk accessories, picture frames, jewelry, bookends, and a limited number of monumental table lamps. Heintz invented and patented a secret method for attaching decorative sterling silver overlay to each piece without using messy solder. Unlike traditional hand-hammered copper, Heintz turned to the lathe to create his metalware. His craftsmen attached pieces of bronze to the lathe and “spun” each form by pressing thin bronze sheets against spinning forms with wooden mallets.