Teh Ling: Silversmith to the China Marines

[Dirk]

This thread is an attempt to pass along what I believe are the characteristics and evolution of silver dragon cigarette cases made by the jewelry manufacturing firm of Teh Ling, who marketed products specifically for US Marines stationed in Peking, China. Ling’s proximity to, and known standard of producing high quality items, made him a favorite retailer with Marines serving at the American Legation before, and after WWII. To date however, no one in the militaria community has really made an attempt to examine his output of products, or made an attempt to know anything about the firm.  This is my attempt to start that process.  For the Marines, China was considered good duty. Despite what might appear to be low pay ($21.00 per month for a Private), Marines could make their money go farther through much of the China Marine period. Being well paid, compared to the locals, or even other nations Legation Guards, meant the Marines had more money to spend on drink, women, and souvenirs. One of the fashionable behaviors during the Pre-war period was carrying one’s cigarettes in a case. Although such a case could be composed of any material, those made of silver seem to be highly popular at the time in both Europe and the States. China during this period appears to have been awash in cheap silver, particularly from melted down coinage. Peking, the former Imperial Capital, and for some of this period, the capital of the Republic, had a rich tradition of having numerous high quality jewelry and silver manufacturers spread throughout the city. One such company was Teh Ling of Morrison Street.

[Dirk]

Teh Ling is one of those immediately recognizable names to anyone who follows antique Chinese silver. Furthermore, his works have shown up on PBS’s “Antiques Road Show” several times introducing him to a entirety new audience. He may not have been the best silversmith in the city at the time, or even the most exclusive, but given the number of surviving works, the fact that his pieces are easily identifiable, and his location in the city made him highly popular to Marines at the a time, he deserves to be near the top of the list anytime one discusses China Marine silver. Ling’s jewelry store was located just outside the Legation Quarter, home to the diplomatic community and the guard forces that protected them, initially located at 27 Morrison Street, and sometime around 1935 at 117 Morrison Street. Morrison street was considered a very fashionable shopping street between the wars. An example of his favor with foreign clientele, was he was not located among the dark and cramped shops lining silver street, just south of the Chein Men gate. Instead, he is located just north of the Legation Quarter at a prime location to attract international customers.

 

 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/17/myrtle-beach-sc/appraisals/1938-chinese-export-silverware-canteen--201202A35/

[Dirk]

The earliest dated piece I have from this artist’s shop is a silver cigarette case to a Marine who rotated home in 1926. We can assume Ling was in business before that date. Some say as early as 1880, but I don’t know what that assumption is is based upon.  Interesting though, he does not appear to advertise in any Legation Guard publication until the end of 1931. Prior to that date, two local silversmiths dominated the silver shop advertisements in the Legation Guard Annual and the monthly Legation Guard News: “M Levy” ofTientsin and Morrison Street, Peking, and “Clemann” of Legation Street. Levy was part of a group of Jewish merchants originally based in Tientsin, who expanded their operations to Peking, buying out a French firm located in the city into the 1920’s.

[Dirk]

After December 1931 however, Levy’s ads become sporadic in both Guard publications to be replaced by Teh Ling’s, and we do not see a lot of Levy’s ads in any number until later in the pre war period. From viewed examples of Ling’s cases we know he employed several different craftsman to make cases from a standard design pattern. But like with most Chinese artisans of this period, standardization was rarely followed exactly, as we shall witness in the next few images. Here we see a Teh Ling manufactured silver case made for the commercial market. I think this is their first standard pattern(Type 1). A dragon dominates the case’s front. The dragon is shown chasing the pearl of enlightenment and knowledge.  To the Chinese, the dragon represents good luck, in an articulated position. The artisan makes of point of twisting the dragons body to show he is in movement (note the spinal twist behind the dragons front right arm). No other Chinese artists to date that I have seen, come close to attempting to replicate this type of movement on a cigarette case. Most artists depicted the dragon as flat two dimensional affairs, with the dragon crudely bent to follow the contours of the case. Next we see the pearl he is chasing: as noted above the pearl represents enlightenment…with rays coming out of it to show it emits wisdom. The final front detail we should note is the case is heavily dimpled.  There is some element in Chinese art of this period that seems to resist leaving any open space in any piece of art or design. The artists seems almost compelled to fill any such space in some way- perhaps the belief at the time:  “the more design, the greater the piece’s value.”  On the reverse we see the same dimpling and a open rectangled space with clipped corners for a name or initials to be engraved. The inside uses a hinged and spring silver Art Deco bar to prevent the cigarettes from shifting in the case. It’s interesting that Teh Ling used this pattern case in his advertising in Marine publications, but without the pearl shown, up until almost the start of WWII, even after he introduced a new case pattern.

[Dirk]

Which brings us to this next piece specially commissioned as a departure gift for a Marine leaving Peking in 1926. The design (Type 1a) of this case follows the template of the one shown above, but this time the pearl is replaced by an EGA. The rays of wisdom disappear as well. The reserve is identical, but here we have a name engraved, which alongside the muster rolls helps us date this piece accordingly.  Note: many of Teh Ling’s pieces are worked in 935 silver. Which is purer the sterling and was commonly used by German, Austrian, and Swiss silversmiths. Why he chose to work with such a high grade of silver when many of his Chinese contemporaries worked with an alloy of 90% silver is unknown. However, note Ling was not the only Chinese silver firm working in 935. The weight of this case is 209 g.

[Dirk]

Here is another example of a early Marine silver cigarette case by Teh Ling. While the dragon shows an excellently articulated body with skin that seems to rise from the case, the EGA comes off a bit primitive-almost scrawny and chicken-like. I am wondering if two artists worked on this piece separately. Did one do the dragon, and another the EGA? Regardless, the EGA falls far short of the one found above it. Also note the dragons legs are in slightly different positions from the first example. Lastly, if you look on the back side of the front piece, the stempling is not done under dragon and the EGA. I have not seen this absence on any other cases in this pattern(Type 1 and Type 1a). This Marine appears to the muster rolls to have departed Peking at the end of 1931. The weight of this case is 144 g.

[Dirk]

This third Type 1a example shows a better executed EGA with a well articulated dragon. But this time the dragon is showing movement in his left upper arm and lower spine. On each of these examples the finishing details on the legs and the top of the dragons heads are slightly different. So we can conclude each artist had a lot of latitude in creating each case. And the EGA and the dragon were made separately from the case then soldered or sweated on giving the front a three D effect. The case dimensions are 4.7 “ wide by 3.07” high. The weight of this case is 141 g. And the last picture shows a comparison between the three Type 1a’s

[Dirk]

Around 1937 Teh Ling appears to have introduced a new line of cases (Type 2). If they continued making the EGA modified cases above, after 1931, it’s a question still to be answered. These next two cases came from Marines serving in China in the late 30’s. The Marine who commissioned this case left China in 1939. The design of the new pattern case moved the dragon from its central position to now forming the border frame of both sides of the case front and back. On one side of the case there now appears a Chinese village with a mountain in the background and on the opposite a Chinese temple or pagoda surrounded by stylized trees. The pagoda side does retain a open space of a name or engraved initials. Again the four corners are clipped but not a sharply as the previous model. On the inside instead of a art deco pattern silver bar, Teh Ling now uses a fine silver linked chain to firmly affix the cigarettes in the case. Dimensions of this case are 6 1/4” wide by 3” inches high. The weight of this case is whopping 269 g.

[Dirk]

This version came in two different sizes. The smaller (Type 2a) one is ex-Bob Gee collection, and was purchased in 1938. Unlike the larger case this one is 5” wide by 2 3/4” inches high. The weight of this case is 192 g.

[Dirk]

It appears from surviving dated examples the Teh Ling firm continued operate after the end of the war continuing to produce silver cigarette cases, but of lighter weight and lower quality. The engraving falls far below prewar pieces.  The beyond the less then stellar engraving, the firm used a slightly modified design from its pre-war line. I call this Type 3, as it replaces the Chinese village scene with a camel train passing along a walled city. The temple scene remains unchanged from the prewar series, albeit not as finely executed. The dimensions of this case remain the same as the Type 2. The weight of the case is 193 g.the last image shows a comparison between post (upper) and pre-war workmanship (lower)

 

 

[Dirk]

Here is an interesting fourth design (Type 4) style for the post war period as found on Worthpoint. It seems to be a one off design made as a gift but the firm for an Army Captain assigned to Peiping after WWII. The seller notes the width of this case is 6.5” and the height is 3.12” . Weight is unknown. Markers mark appears to match the Type 3 with 935 now being incorporated with the word  “silver”.

[Dirk]

Silver cigarette cases were only one of many items made by Teh Ling. This firm made silver tipped swagger sticks, military themed jewelry, qualification badges, and silver trophies of numerous sizes, and a whole range of civilian jewelry. I am always interested in seeing other examples of the Teh Ling Company’s works. If you have any please post them. 

[Salvage Sailor]

Another superior sterling topic Dirk,

 

Aloha

[Dirk]

Thank you! A wide area to explore here!

[warguy]

Excellent article and long overdue. I look forward to following this as other weigh in. Thank you Dirk. 

[Dirk]

Kevin thank you! I hope others will play as well….there are only a few of us who collect this kind of stuff 

[themick]

a great presentation Dirk.  Thanks for the information and pictures!!

 

Steve

[Dirk]

Thanks Steve! Now let’s go find more of this guys work out there so we can build a more complete catalog of his Marine commissioned pieces! 

[Alec]

About time you stopped collecting toy soldiers and started writing something about this amazing silver collection you have. Great knowledge base and hopefully some other stuff will crawl out and find its way to you to add to the Dbase!

[yokota57]

Simply spectacular. Thanks for posting them!

[Dirk]

Thanks Alec and Yokota! 
 

Alec not all these are in my collection….a number came from online screen grabs. Still can’t give up the toy soldier thing ;)

[Larry569]

This Silver Bracelet was brought back by my Dad from Shanghai, China.  My dad, John A. Luko, was in China from June, 1939 to July, 1941.

[Dirk]

Larry outstanding! Love seeing the original case and finally have you confirm this jeweler existence that Mow Chong was the same as the Dragon Co.!

[Larry569]

Thanks, Dirk

[kiaiokalewa]

On 5/14/2023 at 8:57 AM, Dirk said:

The earliest dated piece I have from this artist’s shop is a silver cigarette case to a Marine who rotated home in 1926. We can assume Ling was in business before that date. Some say as early as 1880, but I don’t know what that assumption is is based upon.  Interesting though, he does not appear to advertise in any Legation Guard publication until the end of 1931. Prior to that date, two local silversmiths dominated the silver shop advertisements in the Legation Guard Annual and the monthly Legation Guard News: “M Levy” ofTientsin and Morrison Street, Peking, and “Clemann” of Legation Street. Levy was part of a group of Jewish merchants originally based in Tientsin, who expanded their operations to Peking, buying out a French firm located in the city into the 1920’s.

Aloha Dirk,  I found the M. LEVY part of the story interesting and might have the bookend to his story as it relates to his original location in Tientsin and at 195 Victoria Road.  For the longest time I've always tried to figure out the manufacturer of the 15th Infantry Regiment ladder badge in the collection.  It was clearly hallmarked Arnold on its reverse but any meanful search for the company yielded zero success until recently and in two different TAAA (Tientsin Amateur Athletic Association) programs circa. 1935-36.  Arnold's crafts seem to parallel Levy's business and they were at the same building location.  I gather that 195 Victoria Road was something of an emporium with multiple businesses offering the same things and types of services.  It's quite possible Levy's operation became strained explaining the less aggressive advertising drive towards the time frames you referenced.  It would almost seem logical that Arnold would had absorbed business aspects of Levy's Tientsin operations since they were at the same location.  In anycase, I'm happy to learn that my 15th Infantry badge was made in Regiments backyard and there was a little bit of a tie in to your thread which by the way is fascinating.   When I get the opportunity I have a sterling picture frame with dragons that exhibit the same characteristics Teh Ling's work.