A Chinese Export silver tablespoon, in the Fiddle and Thread pattern, with pseudo hallmarks. The spoon is lovely quality, quite heavy at 88 grammes, a pleasure to hold. It has no initials or crest, and no sign of them being removed. The hallmarks are clear, and include pseudo sterling lion, crowned leopards head (with a large grin, which gives it away), date letter L used by Linchong, and pseudo Georgian duty mark. Linchong worked from New China Street, Canton, between 1800 and 1850

A Chinese Export (or China Trade silver) silver tablespoon, with excellent pseudo hallmarks. The spoon is Fiddle pattern, and has an attractive and well engraved family crest, a Lion's head erased, which is contemporary. The hallmarks include pseudo sterling lion, pseudo crowned leopard's head, date letter "C', and pseudo Georgian duty mark. We have tentatively ascribed these marks to Cutshing, we would welcome other opinions. These marks are typical of the pseudo English marks deliberately created by Chinese silversmiths, for the export market. Cutshing are "widely recognised as producing some of the finest silver from the early China Trade period (1785-1840)" - www.chinese-export-silver.com, article on Cutshing.

A set of 5 Cape Silver tablespoons in the Fiddle pattern, with initials GHJ which are clearly engraved. The spoons have a chamfered edge (very Continental in style), and all 5 spoons have clear hallmarks (Welz mark 135). The marks include crowned leopards head, date letter a, duty mark and lion passant.

A rare Cape Silver lemoen lepel (orange spoon) and matching konfyt fork (preserve), we have not encountered a matching set before, none are recorded in the Cape silver reference books. The spoon is the traditional elegant lemoen lepel shape, with narrow, pointed boat shaped bowl, v shaped drop, and triangular terminal. The matching fork has 4 tines, both feature traditional Cape prick engraving with a 4 petalled flower. Both are clearly hallmarked with makers mark IC in rectangular punch with canted corners for Johannes Combrink, and also are punched with initials IFS, we assume the original owner. Welz describes orange spoons as"probably the most attractive type of spoon made at the Cape, derived from Dutch spoons", pg 95. He also notes that all known examples are by Cape born silversmiths of the early 19th century (so not made by the more prolific English immigrants who arrived after 1815). Heller, in his book History of Cape Silver, describes orange spoons as "exquisite". Johannes Combrink of the famous Co...

Set of matching spoons in the French Fiddle and Thread pattern, in 800 silver, made in Germany post 1884, all with the same engraved initials (HB). The set includes 6 tablespoons (in original box), 6 teaspoons (in original box) and a soup ladle. The spoons were retailed in Berlin by H Zimmermann, (Juwelier on Orienstr). The 12 spoons were made by Wilkens & Sohne, the ladle by another maker (mark a clearly visible W with 2 people). The ladle has a gilt interior and flat bottom. Note: - these should not be confused with the term "german silver", which is an alloy and not silver as such.

A rare Cape silver mustard spoon, in the Fiddle pattern with gilded bowl, and excellent hallmarks. This is a lovely, well made spoon, with a marked angle at the drop, and pleasing proportions. The hallmarks include makers mark JT in damaged punch (Welz mark 123), and 4 pseudo marks (Georgian duty, lion passant, date letter a and tree mark). Heller does record Cape made salt and mustard spoons, and depicts 6 salt spoons in his book "History of Cape Silver" (pg 202, plate 67). Cape mustard spoons appear to be be much rarer than salt spoons, this is the only known example we have encountered. Note: We have now acquired an additional 3 Cape silver mustard spoons by John Townsend, see S 1971 (pair) and S 11082, which brings the total of known Cape silver mustard spoons to 4, all by Townsend.

A pretty boxed silver butter knife and jam spoon, with lovely terminal design, which has been cut out by hand. Both pieces are good quality and in excellent condition, they do not appear to have been used. The hallmarks are clear on both. This would make a lovely wedding present.

An interesting silver caddy spoon made to commemorate the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana in 1981. This is a lovely caddy spoon, quite heavy, excellent quality, and with a very pleasing design. The bowl is circular with stylised Prince of Wales feathers with Royal crown and motto "ICH DIEN". The handle is rectangular with diamond lozenge with the Spencer family Coat of Arms, 3 scallop shells between 2 devices, above Spencer family motto "Dieu Defend Le Droit", translated "God defend the right". The back of the handle is engraved "Des A. G. Styles, Garrard & Co Ltd, 42". It is also engraved with the name "George Ware" underneath the hallmarks, which are clear (we assume a previous owner). Alex Styles was one of Britain's leading silver designers of the 20th century, he spent most of his career as lead designer at Garrards, the Royal silversmiths, until he retired in 1987. The Times newspaper described him as "the finest designer of hand made silver in England" in 1966. He served with the RAF duri...

A lovely American Arts & Crafts sterling silver caddy spoon, made by respected silversmith Katherine Pratt. The spoon has an unusual but striking curved shovel shaped bowl with a flat terminated bowl edge, most caddy spoons have rounded bowls. The bowl edges are slightly raised, this is a well made spoon. The handle is long and elegant, and very practical for use. The spoon is stamped "STERLING" and "PRATT". These are in different fonts, the Pratt font is quite distinctive and typically Arts & Crafts. Katherine Pratt (1891-1978) has been described as "America's foremost 20th century woman silversmith" although information on her is sparse and her silver is rarely seen on the market today. She graduated from the Boston Museum School in 1914, and trained under both George Hunt and George Gebelein, both leading Arts and Crafts silversmiths. She worked at the Handicraft Shop, and was recognised by the Boston Society of Arts (Craftsman 1916, Master 1918, and the prestigious Medalist Craftsman in 1931, the only fe...

Extremely rare marrow spoon (as opposed to the commomer marrow scoops), with a lovely shellback. Hallmarks are very distinct. Bennett was a well regarded silversmith who worked on London Bridge.

A rare Irish provincial silver toddy ladle made in Cork, but hallmarked in Dublin. The ladle is circular with a lip for pouring, and has a whale bone handle. The ladle is beautifully decorated, with embossed flowers, leaves and scrolls, on a stippled background. The pouring lip is decorated with a "sunburst" collar. The decoration is typical of the Irish silver of the 1820 period, with floral repousse (embossing) on a background stippled to a matt finish (Bennett, Collecting Irish Silver, pg 79). The whalebone handle is 4 sided, and has an unusual knop end, the circular knob set above silver banded decoration. The hallmarks are all very clear, including makers mark PG in oval outline (Cork mark no. 80 in Bennett). The Dublin Goldsmiths company passed an act in 1807 requiring the Kings head to be stamped on all plate made in Ireland. As this could only be done in Dublin, it forced the provincial goldsmiths to start sending silver to Dublin for hallmarking. Garde, who worked in Cork between 1812 and 1845, appe...

A magnificent Scottish Georgian silver punch ladle, by one of the finest Scottish silversmiths of the period. The ladle has a circular bowl, finely decorated with bunches of grapes and vine leaves, the decoration is truly a work of art. The ladle has a lip which is also decorated, similar to a gadroon pattern. The handle is held in place with a traditional heart shaped plaque, this has a previous owners initials lightly scratched into it, hardly visible but a nice addition. The silver handle is also decorated with grapes and vine leaf. The original handle is wood, which has been turned into an attractive shape. The ladle is finished with a silver knob and cap, also decorated in the same fine grape and vine pattern. The ladle is a generous size and weight, is very good quality, and is in superb condition. The hallmarks are very slightly worn but still clearly visible, and include the Glasgow town mark, lion rampant, date letter G, duty mark and makers mark RG&S. Robert Gray worked in Glasgow from 1776, adding ...

A rare set of 6 Rose pattern Victorian silver teaspoons, by the highly respected firm of Elkington. These are the heaviest and best quality teaspoons we have ever encountered, each teaspoon averages over 44 grammes, no expense was spared when these were made. The pattern is double struck, and has good detail, with trailing roses, and Anthemion heel (Pickford, Silver Flatware, pg 131. The crest area has not been engraved. The hallmarks are clear, it appears the Elkington and Co Ltd makers mark is overstriking another maker, indicating Elkington purchased these from a specialist maker (possibly CJ Vander, who are known to have possessed Rose pattern dies, depicted in Pickfords book, pg 25) and overstruck their mark, a common practise. Pickford describes the pattern as rare, and he notes 2 different types (different heels). Close examination shows that these spoons have a slightly different design from the one depicted in Pickfords Flatware book (pg 131), with more leaves, so different dies must have been made. ...

A collection of 10 sterling silver and enamel souvenir spoons, all from Scottish towns. Eight of the spoons have enamel finials, one has additional enamel bowl, two are silver only. The spoons were made in Birmingham, London and Edinburgh, and two were imported from Europe. The dates range from 1900 to 1955. All 10 spoons have clear hallmarks. The 10 include: 1. Kilmarnock, Birmingham 1946, L Bros, Confide Virtute et Industria 2. Glasgow, Birmingham 1955, Barker Brothers 3. Edinburgh, London 1902, Saunders & Shepherd, Nisi Dominus Frustra, imported F mark 4. Glasgow, Birmingham 1926, Levi & Salaman, Let Glasgow Flourish, Cathedral in gilded bowl 5. Edinburgh, Birmingham 1900, Levi & Salaman, Nisi Dominus Frustra 6. Glasgow, Birmingham 1911, Joseph Cook & Sons, Exhibition 1911 7. Girvan, Birmingham 1902, William Henry Leather, Sigillum Burgi de Girvan 8. Dumfries, London circa 1900, imported F mark, Enamel bowl with High Street, Dumfries 9. Edinburgh, Birmingham 1926, Levi & Salaman, Nisi Dominus Fru...

A collection of 10 sterling silver and enamel souvenir spoons, all from a different British town. All 10 spoons were made in Birmingham, with dates ranging from 1900 to 1965. All 10 spoons have clear hallmarks. The 10 include: 1. Guildford, 1902, Levi & Salaman 2. Hastings, 1900, Levi & Salaman, Hastings Castle in bowl. 3. Morecambe, 1965, AJ Bailey 4. Blackpool, 1960, Turner & Simpson 5. Nottingham, 1955, James Fenton 6. Llangollen, 1909 Spurrier & Co 7. Carlisle, 1903, Levi & Salaman, Be Just and Fear Not 8. Canterbury, 1950, Deakin & Francis, Ave Mater Anglia 9. Isle of Wight, 1907, Spurrier & Co 10. Chester, 1951, Barker Brothers, Antiqui Colantantiquum Dierum

A Cape silver teaspoon, in the Fiddle pattern, by Johannes Combrink. The spoon has original owners initials HV engraved on the stem, the engraving is most attractive. The teaspoon has an unusual drop with incised curve. The spoon is marked with makers mark IC (Welz mark 30, Cape Silver, pg 147), this is very well struck and clear. Note faint scratch mark JER near hallmark, we presume a previous owner, visible in photo, not really visible normally unless you look close in good light.

A pair of Fiddle pattern Cape silver teaspoons, with original engraved initials "RHL". The teaspoons are a pleasing weight, and are well made, good quality spoons, well preserved. The spoons have a Colonial feel, the Fiddle is more flattened than English examples. The engraving of the initials is lovely, they also has a Colonial feel. The hallmarks are excellent on both spoons. The include makers mark JJV in an unusual 6 sided punch (Welz mark 161), pseudo sterling lion, and pseudo duty mark (Queen Victoria's head with good detail, and hair bun). Jacobus Vos worked from 127 Long Street, unfortunately he died young, age 27, unmarried, which is a pity as he produced good quality silver.

A Cape silver Fiddle pattern tablespoon, with a set of extremely rare Cape silver hallmarks. The hallmarks include makers mark LT, and pseudo marks that include date letter A, lyre and duty mark. These marks are shown by Welz in his book Cape Silver (mark 144, page 156), they are also shown by David Heller in his book History of Cape Silver (mark MM84, page 156). The makers mark, A and lyre mark are well struck and very clear, the duty mark is worn at the top. The date letter A is quite distinctive, with one arm much thicker than the other.

A scale replica set of the Tichborne Celebrities, probably the most famous of all English spoon sets, originally made by William Cawdell in 1592 (Kent, London Silver Spoonmakers). The set was produced in 1977 by the Heritage Collection of Bristol, commemorating the Silver Jubilee, in a limited edition of 5000 (this set is no 1814). The sets sold for GBP 250 in 1977, with a royalty paid to the Hampshire County Museum, who bought the original set at Christies in 1975 for GBP 85000. The spoons are sterling silver with gilt finials, and each spoon is hallmarked with 5 marks - makers device, STG (sterling), antelope head (South Africa), date letter D and set number 1814. The spoons are good quality, with very detailed finials, and each is engraved with its name, as per the originals. The set comes in original box, complete with signed certificate with information on each "celebrity", and a booklet describing the set, its maker, and information on Sir Robert Tichborne. The set comprises of the "9 Worthies" of medie...

A lovely and early George II double lipped punch ladle, with twisted whalebone handle, of extremely good quality. It is a good gauge and weight, much heavier than many we have seen. The bowl is fluted and is a generous size, and is joined to the handle with a double scroll. The base of the ladle is engraved "G over J+E", the engraving is contemporary and done by hand. The hallmarks are clear, and include the unregistered makers mark EA (Grimwade 3534) with 2 dots above and 1 below. Whalebone was heated under pressure with steam until malleable, and then twisted into ornate spirals, which hardened and retained their design after cooling (Helliwell, Collecting Small Silverware, pg 76). Aldridge worked between 1724 and 1765 in Foster Lane. He was tried at the investigation of the Goldsmith's Company for counterfeiting marks in 1742, but was acquitted by the jury (Grimwade pg 421).