Product Background Information

Ricci Argentieri History

One hundred and sixty years ago the RICCI family artisans established their Guild House, Ricci Argentieri, in Alessandria, a small northern town near Milan. Since 1840, Ricci Argentieri (also known as Ricci Silversmiths) has been one of the most respected and renowned silversmiths in all of Europe. Ricci’s rich tradition of quality craftsmanship continues today in the USA. Distributed by Godinger International, Ricci is still one of the most highly-acclaimed silversmiths in the world.

Today, Ricci’s sterling factory is still located in Padova, Italy, while our plate and stainless factories are located throughout the Far East. Each of our factories is state of the art, with our flatware and hollowware being produced to the most exacting standards. The highest quality, weight, balance and detail are apparent in every flatware piece. 

At Ricci, we will not compromise quality or standards for ease of production.

At Ricci, superior quality is evident in:

Design

Ricci is dedicated to producing is sterling silver, silverplate, goldplate and stainless collections with exceptional quality and beauty. For the past five generations, Ricci has been in the vanguard in the research and development of new designs. Ricci combines classic tradition and flawless contemporary styling to produce the most exquisitely designed flatware available.

Design engineers carefully analyze the movement of the lines and proportion of the pieces. The thickness of the metal on a single spoon varies to best carry out the pattern. Each Ricci pattern extends to the end of the piece and on both sides front and back. This detailing is only found on the best European flatware. True masters of their art, Ricci silversmiths pursue detail and design until a perfect product is produced.

Craftsmanship
Each piece of sterling silver is handcrafted - filed, polished and buffed by hand- in Italy, just as the original Ricci artisans did it in 1840.

Our elegant silver and goldplate patterns, as well as our sophisticated and fine 18/10 stainless steel collections are also carefully handcrafted in multiple specialty factories located throughout the Far East.

All of our highly trained and expert masters of metal, practice their art in the only way they know; with devotion to quality and detail. At our state of the art facilities, Ricci flatware is produced to the most exacting standards using ultra-modern machinery that specializes in intricate designs.


Quality of Materials
Ricci flatware is produced from the finest materials available. For example:

Ricci Sterling Silver, is composed of a heavily weighted.925 Sterling Silver.

Ricci Silverplate is made using  a minimum of 10 microns, whereas the usual industry standard is usually 1 microns or less.

Ricci Goldplate is made using real 18 kt gold, at a minimum of .10 microns, whereas the usual industry standard is .02 microns and frequently, is only a gold colored wash.

Ricci Stainless Steel is using the highest quality 18/10 (18% chromium/10% nickel and 72% pure stainless steel). The composition of 18/10 creates a stainless that is both lustrous and heavyweight. The knives are forged, carbon steel, and in most case two-pieced hollow handle designed. The result is a collection that is unusually strong and undeniably beautiful.

The artisans of the Ricci flatware collections today, apprentice under expert master craftsmen who have generations of experience. Additionally, before leaving the factory, every shipment of Ricci flatware, whether in Sterling, Silver Plate, Gold Plate or Stainless - goes through a comprehensive and stringent physical inspection performed by specially trained supervisors. These inspectors administer a report that includes a detailed description of the quality level of the flatware and any problems that might have occurred in production. ‘Surprise’ production run inspections, packaging inspections and detailed inspections of dozens of randomly selected pieces of flatware are also conducted. The purpose of these inspections, are to monitor aesthetic look, proper form and shape, as well as proper dimensions off the finished pieces.
Some of the details of our stringent inspection include:

• Tines of forks for proper thickness and curve of tines
• Grinding of the fork tines for even tips
• Shape and form on all pieces to make sure they match original mechanical drawings of pattern
• Weight and balance of all pieces, especially on dinner knives
• Examining all knife blades for nicks, scratches and blade sharpness
• Attachment of knife blades to handles on all 2 piece knives
• Shape of the bowls on all spoons
• Overall polish and finish
• Placement and etching of hallmark
• Gift boxes for proper color and layout
• Internal packaging for safety and flatware protection for shipping

If any of the above fail to meet the high standards of Ricci production, then the entire shipment is broken down and individually re-inspected. If more than just random problems are identified, the production run is destroyed and the problems are corrected before initiating the production process again. While production problems do occasionally occur, they are almost always identified and corrected before an outgoing shipment to the customer.