A Indian Colonial silver tablespoon in the Fiddle pattern, slightly larger and heavier than most tablespoons. Ths spoon has a good feel, nicely weighted when used, and clearly hand made. The spoon has no engraving, or any sign of engraving being removed. The hallmarks are clear, and include makers mark P&Co. for Pittar & Co, pseudo lion passant, pseudo date letter A and tally mark number 17 from the book "Indian Colonial Silver" by Wynyard Wilkinson, page 170. Arthur Pittar & Co. worked between 1825 and 1848 in Calcutta, a similar tablespoon, but 2 centimetres shorter, is depicted on page 104. They were primarily diamond and jewel merchants, but clearly made good quality flatware and holloware. They imported a die press for manufacture of Fiddle pattern flatware in 1842, we believe this spoon predates that, given it's unusual size.
A Fiddle pattern Cape silver table fork, with excellent pseudo hallmarks. The fork is a good weight, and the tines are long, this is a good quality fork. The pseudo marks include duty mark, leopards head town mark, date letter a and date letter J, Welz mark 122, but struck in a different order.
A Scottish provincial toddy ladle in the Old English pattern, with circular bowl and a long, elegant, curving handle. The ladle is engraved with script initials AP, which are contemporary. The hallmarks include makers mark DM struck twice, either side of the Dundee town mark, a "Pot of Lilies". The pot of lilies is the arms of the burgh of Dundee (Jackson pg 598), the pot has 2 handles, clearly visible here. The hallmarks are clear, with slight wear to the lilies at the top of the mark. David Manson worked between 1809 and 1818, his work is quite rare.
A Cape silver table fork in the Fiddle pattern, with very clear Cape silver pseudo hallmarks for Lawrence Twentyman. The fork is engraved with an interesting family crest, a wolf's head erased, the engraving is still clearly visible. The engraving is on the back of the fork, dating back to a time when forks were placed on the table with tines pointed down. The fork is clearly hallmarked with makers mark LT and 4 pseudo hallmarks, all struck individually, pseudo duty mark, pseudo date letter e, pseudo Edinburgh Castle town mark and bird. this is mark 131 in the book "Cape Silver and Silversmiths" by Stephan Welz, but struck in a different order. Lawrence Twentyman was the most prolific of all Cape silversmiths, he had the first shop on Heerengracht (now Adderley Street) with a shop window. He worked between 1818 and 1837.
Typical Scottish silver toddy ladle, in the Fiddle pattern, with engraved initail P. The ladle was made by Andrew Wilkie, a Dundee silversmith, but was assayed in Edinburgh. Silver by Wilkie is found with both Dundee marks (pot of lilies) and with Edinburgh marks, as is the case with other Scottish provincial silversmiths, brought about by the imposition of duty on hallmarked silver. According to Turner (Directory of Scottish provincial silversmiths and their marks), certain makers had a proportion of their silver fully stamped in Edinburgh, to keep their registration as a silversmith valid - and to keep the Revenue service happy that duty was being paid.
Engine turned vinaigrette with beautiful grille. The cartouche is initialled with initial T, the base has bright cut wrigglework with flowerhead. The interior is gilt. Joseph Willmore is described by Eric Delieb (Silver Boxes) as "a superlative silversmith, who worked in the trade for almost half a century".
Pair of bright cut Hester Bateman sugar tongs with very clear hallmarks. Decoration swag and wrigglework with initials JR on bow.
A lovely pair of Cape silver teaspoons in the Fiddle pattern, in excellent condition and with very clear hallmarks. The spoons are clearly hand made, you can see very slight differences in the shape and size of the Fiddle and bowl shape when comparing closely. The spoons are good quality and a good weight. The spoons have no engraving with no initials removed, completely original. Both spoons are clearly hallmarked with 4 pseudo hallmarks, all struck individually in the same order - pseudo duty mark, bird, pseudo Edinburgh Castle town mark and pseudo date letter B. This is mark 134 in the book "Cape Silver and Silversmiths" by Stephan Welz, without makers mark - but clearly Twentyman as he was the only Cape silversmith who used these punches. Twentyman was the most prolific of all Cape silversmiths, he had the first shop on Heerengracht (now Adderley Street) with a shop window. He worked between 1818 and 1837. We really like these spoons. Note - we have a matching set of 6 , S 11196.
A Irish Georgian silver tablespoon, in the Old English pattern, with original owners engraved initials PRM. The spoon has a lovely feel, full of character, with quite a large bowl. The hallmarks are bottom marked, and very clear, they could not be better. They include Dublin Hibernia, Crowned Harp, date letter R for 1765 and makers mark C.S in diamond punch, with star above and below, very distinctive. Skinner worked between 1739 and 1765, so this spoon was made right at the end of his career. He was a highly respected silversmith, he was elected Warden in 1751, Master in 1754 and in 1755 was elected to the Dublin City Common Council (Bennett, Collecting Irish Silver, page 153).
A matching set consisting of a Cape Silver tablefork and dessertfork, in the Old English pattern, with matching contemporary initials DJ, probably the original owner. The initials are engraved on the back of the forks, in Georgian style. Both forks are good quality, with long tines, and are a good weight. The hallmarks on both are excellent, very well struck and clear, consisting of makers mark IC between the shell and ladder devices used by Combrink. It is interesting to note that the devices are not struck in the same order, so their placement by the silversmith was probably random. This is a combination of marks 26 - 28 in Cape Silver by Welz. Combrink was a member of the well regarded Combrink family of Cape silversmiths.
Basting spoon in early Old English Pattern, with an elegant narrow handle. In later Old English Pattern the handles flatten out. Basting spoons, sometimes called Turkey spoons, are ideal for use as large serving spoons. The hallmarks are clear, although the makers mark is partially worn, only the GS is visible.
An interesting antique silver wine label, marked "Curacao". The label is triangular in shape, with wavy top, and a zig-zag engraved border. 'Curacao" is hand engraved, indicating the label's age, it adds considerable charm to the label. Curacao is a bitter orange flavoured liqueur from the Caribbean island of Curacao, still produced today (Grand Marnier is an example). It was popular in the 19th century, Curacao silver wine labels have been recorded between 1804 and 1892 (Wine Labels, 1730 - 2003, John Salter). The label is unmarked, but we believe it to be Swedish, or possibly French, due to its shape and style. A series of 4 very similar Swedish labels, by Hans Lyberg of Borus (1806 - 1848), is depicted in the book "Wine Labels, 1730-2003, John Salter, pg 370-371, number 1411-1413 ad 1426. Swedish labels were generally unmarked before 1900. 3 Similar French labels, pg 354 (1347-1349) are also shown in the book above, but our preference is Swedish origin (comments welcome, thanks). The Wine label book we des...
A Scottish provincial Fiddle pattern dessert spoon, made by John Urquhart of Perth. The spoon has script initials L. Whilst the spoon bowl is disappointing, the hallmarks are very well struck and very clear. The Perth town mark (imperial double headed eagle displayed) is taken from the arms of the Burgh (Jackson, pg 613). The hallmarks include makers mark JU, double headed eagle, JU, double headed eagle, S (in an unusual shoreform shaped punch - Poole), having a noticeable indent away from base. These marks are fairly rare, indeed the makers mark and S are not included in Jackson (pg 614). Perth is the former capital of Scotland.
A Fiddle pattern Scottish silver toddy ladle, with a magnificent crest - a unicorn's head erased above a crown, with the motto "Virtute Acquiritur Honos", translated "Honour is acquired by Virtue". This is the motto of the Richardson family. The crown probably indicates the families membership of the peerage. The hallmarks are very clear, including makers mark AW in strangely indented punch. AW has been attributed to Alexander Wotherspoon (British silver makers marks website) but given the similarity of the punch to JW (John Williamson) there is a high probibility of a family relationship (father and son?), so the maker could be A Williamson.
A Scottish Provincial silver toddy ladle in the Celtic Pointed pattern, which was only produced in Scotland and Ireland. The ladle is lovely, long elegant handle with circular bowl, and an original engraved family crest of a crescent. The ladle has 3 hallmarks, makers mark RK in rectanglar punch, Edinburgh 3 tower town mark, and a triple cusped Georgian duty mark. We are not sure if these are official or pseudo hallmarks, the Town mark looks a little suspicious, with irregular punch on top, and it should be accompanied by the thistle and date letter if it was struck in Edinburgh. The duty mark with triple cusp is a well made punch so could be genuine, and the makers mark looks a little crude. It could be Robert Keay of Perth but sent to Edinburgh for assay, but we feel these marks are suspicious, so possibly Robert Keay using pseudo marks or another silversmith altogether. Most Robert Keay silver has his eagle mark, but he did sent some silver to Edinburgh for assay. He is known to have used a triple cusp dut...
A rare Irish provincial sterling silver teaspoon made by Isaac Solomon of Cork, with excellent hallmarks. The teaspoon is Fiddle pattern, the bowl is elongated with a strong tip, more European than English in style. The spoon is engraved with original owners initials II. The hallmarks are excellent, "I.SOLOMON" and "STERLING" in serrated punch, these are well struck, but the sterling punch shows sign of wear. Solomon was born around 1775 and died in 1845, he worked from Patrick's Street, Cork. A number of items with makers mark IS have also been ascribed to Solomon, it is probable that these should be ascribed to John Seymour, and not Solomon. Solomon was a jeweller and silversmith, his working dates beyond 1810 are not known.
A pair of Georgian Scottish silver Celtic Pointed pattern tablespoons, by Alexander Ziegler, who worked in Edinburgh between 1782 and 1802. These are elegant spoons, and although tablespoons are large enough to be used as serving spoons today. Celtic Pointed (or Pointed Old English) is a style used in Scotland and Ireland, not seen in English silver (Pickford, Silver Flatware, pg 96). The spoons have contemporary engraved initials TB in traditional Scottish style. The hallmarks on both spoons are clear.
Plain Irish meat skewer with flat blade, and shoulder pattern beneath ring. The hallmarks are very clear, note the lack of a duty mark, as duty was only introduced on Irish silver in 1808. Initials VG. Neville was an extremely well regarded Dublin silversmith, who served as Warden and Master of the Goldsmith's Company. He was elected to the Dublin City Council in 1807.
An interesting and well travelled Georgian silver butterknife, with carved mother of pearl (nacre) handle. The butterknife has a scimitar shaped solid silver blade, with irregular wavy top, engraved with reeded bands and fan decoration. The handle has carved beads, bands and a fan like structure, this gives a good grip and pleasant feel in the hand. A silver ferrule covers the join between blade and handle. The knife is clearly hallmarked with 5 Birmingham hallmarks, including makers mark LV&W for Ledsam, Vale and Wheeler, this mark used between 1826 (when Wheeler joined Ledsam & Vale) and 1834. The blade also has 3 additional hallmarks, the first a shaped V, a Dutch duty mark for foreign silver used between 1814 -1831, so the knife entered the Netherlands shortly after it was made. The other 2 hallmarks are French, Minerva facing right (guarantee mark for foreign silver) and the Bigorne (beak-iron) mark with insect, used as a counter mark between 1819 and 1838, all these marks are clear. the book "Pocket ...
A Cape silver tablespoon in the Old English pattern, with rare Cape hallmarks not shown by Welz in his book "Cape Silver and Silversmiths". The spoon has been well used, and has a small split (see condition description). The spoon has original owners initials CW engraved on it, the C is larger than the W, so probably done by the owner himself (overall quite quaint). The hallmarks consist of makers mark IL co-joined in oval punch, in between 2 "birds foot" devices, these marks are well struck and clear. The IL makers mark is mark 71 Welz, but the birds foot device is not recorded (Lotter also used a floral hallmark which is recorded). However, the birds foot device used by Lotter is recorded by Morrison (Silversmiths and Goldsmiths of the Cape of Good Hope, 1936, page 57, where this makers mark is pictured). A variant of this mark is also recorded by Heller (History of Cape Silver, 1949, page 151, mark MM40, which shows an extra arm to the birds foot). We can only assume this is a rare mark that was not seen b...
