BEGS leave to inform the public that he has just got an eminent hand in the WATCH AND CLOCK MAKING BUSINESS, who served a regular apprenticeship to the same in _Great Britain_, and will be obliged to those who favour him with their commands. He makes and repairs REPEATING, HORIZONTAL, and STOP WATCHES, in the neatest and best manner. JEWELLERY, GOLD, and SILVERWORK, as usual, made at the above shop, for READY MONEY only. James Geddy repaired watches, advertising that “he still continues to clean and repair Watches, and repairs his own work that fails in a reasonable time, without any expense to the purchaser.” Rough castings in brass for spandrels to decorate the faces of clocks and many fragments of watch crystals have been found in the course of archaeological excavation of the Geddy property. On several occasions James Craig advertised that his customers could have “All Kinds of CLOCKS and WATCHES cleaned and repaired” in his shop, and twice announced that he had “just got an eminent Hand, in the WATCH and CLOCK MAKING BUSINESS, who served a regular Apprenticeship to the same in Great Britain.” In cabinets of rooms adjoining both shops the visitor may examine a collection of silver, cutlery, jewelry, and similar articles made in England and in the colonies during the eighteenth century. Of particular interest are the black enameled “mourning rings” so popular at that time. It was the custom for a man of wealth to provide in his will for the purchase of rings to be worn by members of his family and close friends. All Williamsburg silversmiths and jewelers advertised that they made mourning rings “on the shortest Notice.” The contemporary silversmiths at the Geddy Shop and the Golden Ball do not make mourning rings—there is not much call for them these days. They do, however, make and sell a number of other articles of silver of true eighteenth-century design. For obvious reasons their supply of raw material comes from commercial refineries rather than from melted coins or plate. But they cast the silver, forge it, raise, seam, and solder it, and decorate the finished products just as did their predecessors. Above all, today’s silversmith and his co-workers still hammer the lustrous metal with the same love of beauty that a sculptor might have. Indeed, the hammer is the silversmith’s most useful and in many ways his most delicate tool. With it he can produce effects in the metal that cannot be achieved in any other way. In fact, a fine silversmith must be able to wield a hammer much as an artist uses his brush—as if it were a natural extension of his arm. _WILLIAMSBURG SILVERSMITHS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION_ _Patrick Beech._ Advertised himself as a silversmith and jeweler on one occasion in 1774. Nothing more is known of him. _John Brodnax_ (or Broadnax, 1668-1719). First silversmith to practice the craft in Williamsburg, from about 1694 until his death.