Ian Pickford was educated at Westminster City School and immediately entered the antique silver trade. Six years later, he became lecturer for the University of London, the University of Surrey, Great Britain's National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies and for the National Trust. His writings include the now standard reference book on silver flatware, and he is the editor of Jackson's Silver and Gold Marks. In 1981 he was made a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and a freeman of the City of London.