1931

Neptune Cup

American (born Germany), 1851 - 1934

A gifted Bavarian born goldsmith, Franz Xavier Zirnkilton was apprenticed to a goldsmith in Passau, Bavaria, when he was twelve. Ten years later he went to Vienna as a journeyman and worked for Rothe & Neffe, the crown jewelers to the Austrian royal family, the house of Hapsburg. In 1875 he traveled to the U.S. in anticipation of the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. He found work and settled here, later establishing his own firm, F. X. Zirnkilton, in 1880. His sons later joined the family business, which at its peak employed 45 workers. Zirnkilton spent two years working on this cup, completing it when he was 80 years old. He considered it his masterwork.