Kirk Stieff Company, acquired by Lenox in 1990, is the business descendant of two famous 19th century companies, Samuel Kirk & Son and The Stieff Company. Samuel Kirk & Son, founded in 1815, is America’s oldest silversmith. The Stieff Company, founded in 1892, is known for its exacting reproductions of historical patterns, many of which can be found in the Smithsonian, and its expertise with the repoussé method of working silver. Repoussé means that the design is pushed out of the silver rather than engraved into it.