Museum of the Jewellery Quarter is a museum in Hockley, Birmingham, England.
For over 80 years the family-run firm of Smith & Pepper produced jewellery from the factory that is now the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter.
When the elderly proprietors of the Smith & Pepper jewellery manufacturing firm decided to retire in 1981 they simply ceased trading and locked the door.
Tools were left strewn on benches; grubby overalls were hung on the coat hooks; and dirty teacups were abandoned alongside jars of marmite and jam on the shelf.
In the eighty years before its closure little changed with the working practices or equipment used within the family-owned business.
The Museum has preserved the "time capsule" workshop, and also tells the story of the 200 year old Jewellery Quarter and the ancient craft skills still practised in the workshop that make this area the centre of the British jewellery industry.
It is a Community Museum, that is branch museum, of the Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery.
Ulster Museum:
The bulk of the jewellery collection of about 700 pieces is the gift of Mrs Anne Hull Grundy, art and jewellery historian, who gave us a collection dating from the sixteenth to the mid 20th century.
The earliest pieces complement the 'Girona' jewels, held by the Antiquities department. Some particularly strong sections are our holdings of 18th century paste, 19th century jewellery in all its variety and Art Nouveau jewellery. Our collection of 19th century Irish jewellery is probably the most complete in existence.
The contemporary jewellery collection aims to build on the strengths of the historic collection. It contains the work of predominantly Irish makers at present, and includes silver earrings and amber* necklace by Breon O'Casey, a perspex and silver necklace by Nuala Jamison and a glass pin by Killian Shurmann. A commissioned brooch by Grainne Morton contains references in its compartments to the Museum's collections. Other holdings include the N.I. Arts Council collection of jewellery by local makers such as Brian McClelland, Deirdre McCrory and Mike McCrory.