Northern Thai Silver is among the most famous in Thailand and the methods and styles vary greatly from the central and Southern Thai silver wares. Northern Thai silver got its start in the late 13th century with the fall of Pagan in Burma (1287 A.D.). Because of that event, hundreds of Burmese silversmiths fled Burma for the new capital of Lanna, Chiangmai. Here they set up their craft anew and Chiangmai silver was the inheritor of the Burmese tradition. At about the same time and thereafter the Shan tribes lived throughout northern Thailand and northern Burma, and northern Thai silver also has many Shan attributes. Thus, when we speak of Chiangmai silver, we are also speaking of both Burmese and shan silver.
