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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. more...

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Birth and siblings

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-?); Lamont N. Ensko (1890-1987) who worked in the family silver business; Elathene Ensko (1898-1981) who married George Christie; Lottie Ensko; and William E. Ensko (c1900-1918) who was a sergeant in the US Army who was killed in action in World War I.

Marriage and children

Stephen married Dorothea (1892-1977) on June 4, 1918 in Manhattan and they had three children: Dorothea Charlotte Ensko (1920- ) who married Vernon Charles Wyle (1913-1986) ; Stephen W. Ensko (1922-c1945) 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. Kellar II on December 24, 1944, and later married Alfred Woodward (1913-2007), the Illinois judge.

Early career

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. In 1930 Stephen was living at 40-20 205th Street, Bayside, in Queens, and had a servant living in the household. Robert Ensko, Inc. silver was being advertised in The Antiquarian Magazine in March and April of 1930.

Robert Ensko, Inc. Silver

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.

American Silversmiths and Their Marks

He reissued and updated his father's book Makers of Early American Silver and published it as American Silversmiths and their Marks. 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:

Read more at Wikipedia.org