Jacob Ulrich Holfeldt Tostrup (1 July 1806 – 31 January 1890) was a Norwegian goldsmith

Goldsmith

A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...

.

Biography

He was born in Hjelmeland

Hjelmeland

is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. Hjelmeland was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Two other municipalities were later separated from it: Årdal and Fister , but these were both again merged with Hjelmeland on 1 January 1965.Hjelmeland is known for their fruit and fish...

 in Rogaland

Rogaland

is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry, and as a result of this, Rogaland has the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Norway, 1.1%...

 county, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. He was the son of infantry captain Nicolay Tostrup (1768–1858) and his wife Thale Margrethe Resen Holfeldt (1779–1860). Born as number four of eight siblings in a family which could only afford to send the oldest to university, he started as a goldsmith apprentice in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

 between 1823 and 1828. He then had short stays in St. Petersburg and Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

. He received his journeyman's certificate in 1828. He then moved to Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, and acquired burghership in 1832.

In 1832, he founded the jewelers firm J. Tostrup, gradually expanding his business with more production equipment and better localities. Tostrup held several positions in the goldsmith's guild and artisan associations. His firm made the original enameled insignia for the Order of St. Olav, when the order was established in 1848 and later in 1883 it was put in charge of the whole production. J. Tostrup received the title royal court jeweler, and Jacob Tostrup received the Norwegian King's Medal of Merit in gold and was appointed a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for his work as a goldsmith.

Personal life

In February 1839 he married Lina Hjorthøy (1821–1890), a granddaughter of priest and topographer Hugo Fredrik Hjorthøy

Hugo Fredrik Hjorthøy

Hugo Fredrik Hjorthøy was a Norwegian priest and topographer.He was born in Klepp as the son of vicar Hugo Fredrik Hjorthøy and his wife Inger Beata Schreuder . His father died before his birth, and hence Hjorthøy was sent to his mother's family in Fana. He was tutored by Johan Sebastian...

. They had five children. Their son Oluf Tostrup

Oluf Tostrup

Oluf Tostrup was a Norwegian goldsmith.He was born in Christiania as the son of goldsmith Jacob Tostrup and his wife Lina Hjorthøy . He was a great-grandson of priest and topographer Hugo Fredrik Hjorthøy and a granduncle of Jakob Tostrup Prytz...

 became involved in the company, but died in 1882. Instead Tostrup took on his granddaughter's husband Torolf Prytz

Torolf Prytz

Torolf Prytz was a Norwegian architect, goldsmith and politician for the Liberal Party. He led the goldsmith company J. Tostrup from 1890 to 1938, having inherited it from his grandfather-in-law Jacob Tostrup...

 as a partner in 1884. Torolf Prytz became owner of the store after Jacob Tostrup's death. Prytz, a skilled architect, was one of the architects behind the new store, Tostrup Yard (Tostrupgården), built 1893-1898 next to the Norwegian Parliament.

Torolf Prytz' son, and Jacob Tostrup's great-grandson, Jakob Tostrup Prytz also became a notable goldsmith.

Other sources

• Finne-Grønn, Stian Herlofsen Familien Tostrup fra Lister (Christiania, 1897)
• Kielland, T. Om gullsmedkunst i hundre år. J. Tostrup 1832–1932 (1932)