Gabriel Joseph Heinrich Hermeling (1833-1904) descended from a long line of Cologne goldsmiths. He is recorded as a silversmith in 1860 and took over his father's shop the next year. He trained both in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. He made Romanesque and Gothic-style ecclesiastical silver incorporating enamels from at least 1880 till 1900. In 1880 he received the State medal in the Crafts exhibition at Dusseldorf. From 1890-1900 he was a Court goldsmith. Around 1900 he was employing some 50 people in his workshop (W. Scheffler, Goldschmiede Rheinland-Westfalens, Berlin, 1973, p. 674-5, no. 2103).