Joseph Aquilina's oil lamp, a gift to the Queen Elizabeth II. Photo: Department of InformationJoseph Aquilina's oil lamp, a gift to the Queen Elizabeth II. Photo: Department of Information

In his small workshop in Żejtun, 68-year-old silversmith Joseph Aquilina, can still work wonders with precious metals. Having worked as a silversmith from when he was 14 years old, he has gained so much mastery in this craft that one of his creations was donated to Queen Elizabeth II during the celebrations of Malta’s Independence in 1964. Nowadays, his expertise is particularly focused on the restoration of antique objects which adorn our churches.

Aquilina learnt this trade from his father Joseph who was originally from Cospicua. Before World War II, Cospicua was renowned for some of the most skilled silversmiths in Malta. Most of them eventually had to seek refuge in other towns and villages in Malta when the harbour area became the target of heavy bombardments.

From early childhood, Aquilina was very interested in his father’s work and he spent hours observing him crafting silver items in his shop in St Mary Square, Żejtun. He remembers rushing to the shop immediately after school in order to join silver beads together to make rosary beads for his father’s clients.

Aquilina knew that he was hooked to this trade but he never dreamt that when he turned 14, he would be obliged to choose between attending school and becoming a silversmith. Yet one day, a social services inspector called at the shop and found him doing some work. It was useless to insist that the boy was only helping his father because the inspector maintained that if the boy wanted to stay in the shop, he had to register for employment within 15 days. And that was the end of his schooldays.

“At the time, school meant nothing to me and I thought that this was a great opportunity to start doing what I was really passionate about. However, when, in later years, I had to manage my own business and was faced with several difficulties because of my brief education, I realised that leaving school at such an early age was definitely a huge mistake,” Aquilina readily admits.

His father was greatly disciplined in his trade and he demanded the same diligence from his son. Above all, he wanted to pass to him all the knowledge that he had inherited from past generations. However, this was no easy task because the silversmith’s trade covers areas which include work in silver, gold, filigree and the setting of diamonds.

“Nowadays, most silversmiths choose to specialise in just one of these skills. However, when I was learning the trade, I had to master all these skills in order to become a professional silversmith. It took long years until you were regarded to be competent enough to open your own business. That was why it was necessary to start at a very young age in this trade and to take it very seriously.”

Interestingly enough, Aquilina succeeded to attain his father’s complete trust by disobeying him.

“My father expected the utmost attention during work, both because he wanted the final product to be impeccable, and also because the slightest mistake could be very costly, especially when using gold. He put so much pressure on me that at first, I felt terrified of him and I did not dare to do anything which he did not ask for.”

Yet one day, Aquilina felt confident enough to try his luck by operating the soldering equipment which his father had adamantly prohibited him to use. Indeed, while his father was attending a Lent sermon, Aquilina asked his mother to give him her gold wedding ring in order to cut it in half and rejoin it again. His mother accepted without a second thought and Aquilina hurried to the workshop, broke the ring in two, switched on the gas, prepared the soldering equipment and, trembling with excitement, joined the two parts together. He did such an excellent job that his mother could not identify any signs that her ring had been broken. When she told her husband about this and he inspected the ring, a bright smile lit on his face. His son had finally made it.

A handmade object is unique because you can rarely create an object exactly like another

From then on, Aquilina had his father’s complete respect and he started to produce his own creations for their clients. He had learnt this trade in the traditional way where everything was done by hand.

To remain faithful to this method, he decided to focus on the antique style. This strategy worked perfectly with those connoisseurs who appreciate refined local craftsmanship.

“I’m proud to say that many of my works can be found among the collections of several local and foreign distinguished individuals. Most of my creations consisted of antique Maltese style coffee sets which, in fact, included only three items: a coffee pot, a sugar-basin and a milk jug, because tea was not popular back then.”

Joseph Aquilina.Joseph Aquilina.

Some of Aquilina’s works have often been selected to be given as prestigious gifts.

“I made a particular silver sugar-basin for a group of Drydocks workers who wanted to give it to their British Admiral when he retired from his job in Malta. Yet surely, the most popular item that I produced was the 14-inch oil lamp which the Government of Malta ordered directly from me during the 1970s and 1980s in order to present it to the foreign delegations that visited our country.”

Meanwhile, even though throughout the years, there were many machines available which could facilitate his work, Aquilina always refused to make use of them.

“That is the only way of keeping the profession’s prestige and the value of your creations,” Aquilina insists. “When this type of work is done by machines, the product will lose all its significance because nothing can replace the creative fabrication of the human hand. A handmade object is unique because you can rarely create an object exactly like another. Contrarily, the very precision of objects which are executed by machines will simply turn them into ordinary copies.”

In order to design and craft his particular creations, at times Aquilina had to manufacture his own tools. Yet apart from the ingeniousness required in order to assemble these devices, it is fascinating to know the stories behind the origin of some of the material he used for his tools.

“Look at these hammers and feel how heavy they are,” he tells me with a mischievous look. “I bet that you would never guess what they are made of.”

When he realises that I haven’t the foggiest idea, he tells me that the hammers were made using some of the huge bolts that formed part of the Angel Gabriel, a Greek tanker which, in 1969, was shipwrecked in Marsascala.

“I obtained them when the ship was being broken down into pieces in order to clear the coast,” he points out.

Another curious fact about this trade is that whenever a new silversmith is authorised to start a business, they are given a personal stamp with which to mark each object that they make. This stamp will be unique and it cannot be transferred to another person. Therefore, every silversmith’s work can always be recognised, no matter how much time elapses.

In order to explain better, Aquilina refers to an old and rare book, The Goldsmiths of Malta and their Marks (1972) which was published by Chev Victor Fredrick Denaro, a pioneer in the study of ancient silver in Malta. The book includes information about the ancient trade of silversmiths which goes back to the period of the Knights of St John. The publication also includes all the local silversmiths’ stamps together with their relevant details, starting from the period of the Knights of St John until 1972.

“This book is very precious to me particularly because it helps me to identify the silversmiths who produced the antique objects which I work on.

“This will also determine the period of the objects’ manufacture with more precision, and therefore I can understand better which materials and which methods were involved in its making,” explains Aquilina.

The restoration of antique metal objects requires high expertise and a lot of attention since one small mistake could ruin them completely. Indeed, in these last years Aquilina was responsible for the restoration of various treasured items including the restoration of the silver crown of the icon of the Madonna of Carafa that is located in the Co-Cathedral of St John in Valletta, the restoration of the silver leaves that form part of the decoration of the relic of St John the Baptist which is situated in the Museum of the same Co-Cathedral, and the restoration of the sword of the titular statue of St Catherine in the parish of Żejtun.

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