Stephen Guernsey Cook Ensko
Stephen Guernsey Cook Ensko (May 09, 1896 - December 18, 1969) was an expert on American antique silver.
Birth
Stephen was born in 1896 in New York City to Robert Ensko (1855-1934) and Mary Elizabeth Blakeley (1857-?) and his siblings include: Robert Ensko II (1880-1971) who worked as a lace dealer and married Leah X (1891-1972); Charlotte Ensko (1882-after1930) who married a Horn; Lamont N. Ensko (1890-1987) who worked in the family silver business and married Bernice X (c1890-bef1987) but had no children; Elathene Ensko (1898-1981) who married George Christie (c1895-?); Lottie Ensko (c1900-before1934); and William E. Ensko (c1900-1918) who married Alma Dorothy X (1891-1984) and was a Sergeant in the US Army who was killed in action in World War I.
Marriage and Children
Stephen married Dorothea (1892-1977) around 1917 and they had three children: Dorothea Charlotte Ensko (1920- ) who married Vernon Charles Wyle (1913-1986); Stephen W. Ensko (1922-c1945) who died in World War II; and Alice Elizabeth Ensko (1924-1999) who married George M. Keller II on December 24, 1944, and later married Alfred E. Woodward (1913- ) the judge.
In 1930 Stephen was living at 40-20 205th Street, Bayside, Queens County, New York City, Long Island, New York and had a servant living in the household. He advertised his silver in The Antiquarian Magazine in March and April of 1930.
American Silversmiths and Their Marks
He reissued and updated the book American Silversmiths and Their Marks, which was originally authored by his father. The 1992 edition has 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. Ensko IV completes the exacting task of collecting and editing all the material that has come to light since Ensko III. But like all great reference works, it is far more than a mere series of names, marks, and dates. Here, written between the lines, are the family histories and life records of silversmiths who practiced from American colonial times through 1850. Here are their marks, their pedigrees and biographical information, as well as illustrations, maps, and facsimile pages from the earlier Ensko books. This reset and redesigned edition, a labor of love begun by Stephen Guernsey Cook Ensko and completed by his daughter Dorothea Ensko Wyle, is as definitive and comprehensive a reference book on the subject as is likely to appear. It is also a testimonial to the scholarship and devotion of the Ensko family. 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. The Ensko family history is nearly as lengthy and interesting as the histories of the silversmiths they have so carefully documented. Starting with Robert Ensko (1852-1934), who first began compiling the information, this book has been passed on from father to son to daughter, and has gone through four separate editions, each revised by a member of the Ensko family. This latest compilation was prepared by Dorothea Ensko and her late husband Charles Wyle. It incorporates the research and notes compiled by her father, and is a tribute to the integrity and ceaseless efforts of four generations of a remarkable family."
Death
His obituary appeared in the New York Times on December 19, 1969 on page 55.
References
- Ensko, Stephen G.C., American Silversmiths and Their Marks
- New York Times, December 19, 1969, page 55 "Obituary, Stephen G.C. Ensko"