A Cape silver konfyt fork in the Fiddle pattern, with 3 tines. The fork has the original owners initials PJS, quite quaintly engraved in Colonial style.The fork has excellent hallmarks, they could not be better. They include makers mark MLS and the leaf device, with the veins clearly visible (Welz mark 117). Smith was a Dane who arrived in the Cape as a VOC employee in 1757 aged 35, he died in 1806. He led an interesting life, he married 4 times, and had 10 children.

A pair of Cape silver Fiddle pattern table forks, with traditional pseudo English hallmarks, which are clear on both forks. 5 hallmarks are present (Welz mark 4 in his Cape silver book, although struck in different order), they include makers mark LB, pseudo lion passant (quite fat with "camel hump"), pseudo Georgian duty mark, pseudo 3 turreted castle town mark (copy of Edinburgh town mark), and date letter a (which is struck upside down). Lodewyk Beck worked between 1847 and 1867 from Shortmarket Street and Greenmarket Square (still a vibrant market today), he was one of 6 Cape silversmiths who used pseudo English hallmark punches.

A set of 3 Danish Sterling silver serving pieces, comprising a spoon, fork and ladle. Each is topped with matching sterling silver Danish Royal crown, which is well modeled. The set comes in its original silk and purple velvet lined box, they do not appear to have been used. The fork is long and elegant with 2 prongs, the spoon bowl is quite wide for serving, and the ladle has a deep bowl. All three are hallmarked clearly with "STERLING DENMARK" and makers mark SDG, with the D and G inside the curves of the S. We believe this indicates they were made post 1977, when the Danish official hallmarks were retired. The crown is a replica of the Danish Royal closed crown of Christian V, so it is also possible these were made to commemorate the coronation of the current Danish Queen Margrethe II in 1972.

An early Georgian Hanoverian pattern 3 prong silver dessert fork, made in 1724, when King George I was still on the throne. The fork is the traditional Hanoverian shape, and is bottom marked. The fork has 2 clearly engraved family crests on the back of the fork, so perhaps linked to a marriage, they include a bearded head with bandanna, and a stag with raised front leg. The hallmarks are squashed and partially visible, but the London crowned leopard head, lion passant and date letter I for 1724 are legible. The makers mark is not visible, you can only just see a small star in shaped shield, similar to that seen under the Paul Crespin mark, but not enough to confirm. A later hallmark T is clearly struck, we are not sure of the significance, all assistance welcome. Three pronged Hanoverian pattern forks first appeared around 1710, by 1750 they had been replaced by 4 tines.

An interesting pair of cast silver sugartongs by Hester Bateman, the most famous 18th century female silversmith, she has also been described as the Queen of British silversmiths. The tongs are bow shaped, with attractive cast silver pierced arms, decorated with foliage, scrolls and flowers, and shell grips. The bow is shaped, and has a cartouche for owners initials, which has not been engraved. The side of the bow has faint remnants of owners initials, P/IM, now very worn. Cast sugartongs followed scissor style sugar nips (also called tea tongs), most date between 1770 and 1780, when they were replaced by standard sugar tongs. Cast sugar tongs were complex to make, the arms were cast separately and then soldered onto the bow (Hodges, Georgian Silver Sugar Tongs, page 11). This particular tongs was made from 5 separate pieces, the bottom thinner portion of the arms were cast separately, all the solder joints are visible. We believe this is how the tongs were originally produced, there is a possibility they we...

A Boer War silver Gentleman in Khaki (originally Kharki) sugar tongs, made in 1899 to support fundraising for the 2nd Anglo Boer War. The tongs have the cast image on both arms, the "Gentleman in Khaki beneath crown, with "JUSTITIA" above and "Souvenir" below. The tongs are not engraved. The hallmarks for London 1899 are clear, with makers mark GJ over DF for George Jackson and David Fullerton of Josiah Williams & Co of Bristol, one of the leading flatware manufacturers of the period. The Gentleman in Khaki, wounded but defiant, stands stalwart against the foe, with his head bandaged, this image by Richard Caton Woodville became associated with Kipling's Absent Minded Beggar poem, written for the Daily Mail to raise funds for the war fund (described as unprecedently successful, raising over GBP 250000).

An exceptionally large Danish serving spoon, the largest we have ever seen. The spoon is Fiddle and Thread pattern, and has an hourglass shape. An attractive stylised design is engraved on the back of the handle. The hallmarks are clear, being the Danish Copenhagen towers with 89 underneath (indicating 1889), the makers mark ROST and the assaymasters mark (SG entwined) for S. Groth, who was in office from 1863-1904. This is a good solid spoon, ideal for regular use, especially if you are feeding an army!

A lovely Irish soup ladle in the Fiddle pattern, with an attractive, naive tulip crest. The handle is beautifully curved, so much that the top of the handle is at right angles to the bowl, which makes holding this ladle a pleasure. The bowl, which is quite large, is shaped with high edges which assists pouring the soup out of the ladle. The hallmarks are very clear. Sawyer worked from Fishamble Street from 1797 - 1812, when he died - meaning this ladle was one of his last works.

A rare Cape silver table fork in the Fiddle and Shell pattern, examples are known to exist but these are regarded as rare. The fork is single struck (pattern only on the front), the shell is a lovely feature. A similar example is depicted the book "Further Researches in Cape Silver" by David Heller, page 68, plate 13, also made by Lawrence Twentyman. English versions of this pattern are also scarce, mostly made in Scotland and Newcastle, London versions are rare (Pickford, Silver Flatware, page 114). The hallmarks are clear, makers mark LT and 4 pseudo hallmarks (crowned leopard's head town mark, date letter a, duty mark and lion passant), this is mark 135 in Cape Silver by Welz. Note: We have 2 other examples of this fork, S 11436 and S 11437.

A beautiful antique French cast silver sugar tongs, decorated with grapes, vines and leaves, the nearest English equivalent would be the Chased Vine pattern. The tongs are excellent quality, Ist grade 950 standard, very heavy in the hand, and clearly the work of a master craftsman. The tongs have original owners initials MRP engraved on the bow in a Gothic script. The tongs are clearly hallmarked, makers mark L I A (with funerary urn) for Louis-Isidore Angee, who worked between 1834 and 1842 from Place De Dauphin, Paris. Both arms are also clearly hallmarked with Minerva’s head 1st grade (950/1000) (hidden in the decoration), and an additional crab discharge mark (partially struck on the inside) is also present.

A rare American coin silver sugartongs, made in New York in 1808-1809 by 2 members of the Forbes family of silversmiths. The tongs are quite different from the traditional shape, with a Fiddle shape on the arms, and oval bowls, they are also larger than usual. The tongs are engraved with original owners initials LI in script (could also be IJ if reversed). Both arms are hallmarked with maker mark "C & IW FORBES", with wear to the C, but still clearly visible on one, worn on the other. Colin Van Gelder Forbes and John Wolfe Forbes were brothers, sons of silversmith William Garrett Forbes and brothers to silversmith Garret Forbes. Colin and John were only in partnership between 1808 and 1809, so this is a rare makers mark (Colin worked between 1798 and 1839, John between 1802 and 1835). The Forbes family "dominated the silversmith craft in New York in the late 18th and early 19th century, with shops at 88 and 169 Broadway" - source Silversmith Forbes on www.genealogy.com. This particular makers mark is not dep...

An interesting silver tablefork in the Fiddle pattern, with four pseudo hallmarks, clearly struck, but a bit of a mystery. The fork is clearly Fiddle pattern, but with a very flat handle, so uncomfortable to hold, and probably Colonial in origin. The hallmarks are well struck, and include pseudo lion passant looking left, pseudo crowned leopards head town mark (could be floral device?), pseudo date letter and pseudo Georgian duty mark. We have tentatively identified it as Chinese Export, given the style of the pseudo marks, but cannot find this combination of marks (or the q) in the referrence books. This fork needs further research, all comments and feedback welcome.

A Cape silver konfyt fork in the Old English pattern, with 3 tines. The fork is hallmarked with makers mark OA in oval punch, this is faintly struck but still visible, between two square devices with 4 dots, these are both clearly struck ( Welz mark 2). Ahlers worked as a silversmith between 1810 and his death in 1827. He married the widow of silversmith Jan Brevis, which may have facilitated his entry into the trade. He was the son of Oltman Alders of Germany, his mother was Dorothea of Bengal, who presumably arrived in the Cape as a slave. His silver is quite scarce.

A very pleasing pair of Scottish Provincial silver sugar tongs, by David Gray of Dumfries. The tongs are plain but have lovely proportions, which are noticeably different from English made tongs. The hallmarks are excellent, unicorn, makers mark DG, and fouled anchor. This combination of marks is unusual and is not recorded by either Jackson (pg 597) or by Turner (Directory of Scottish Provincial Silversmiths). The tongs are engraved with script initials EB, which is original.

A unique set of 12 Hanoverian teaspoons, six of which are shellbacks, the other six are scrollbacks. These spoons predate the common practise of making and selling flatware in sets, complete sets are extremely rare. As is usual of the period, these spoons only have 2 hallmarks, the sterling and makers mark, which given the small size of the spoons were often poorly struck. The makers mark is present on all spoons but discernable on only 8, with 5 being by Charles Hougham (one set of 3 and another set of 2), and one each by Hester Bateman, Ebernezer Coker and Thomas Devonshire & William Watkins. Nine spoons have contempory initials, and 2 have a later crest.

A beautiful set of Queens pattern tableforks, extremely heavy (over 100 grams each!), they are wonderful to hold! Interesting crest of a curved topped escutcheon containing a wagon wheel, topped with a helmet and a heron. Hallmarks very clear.

A beautiful sterling silver antique cheese scoop, in the Indian pattern, made by Whiting of New York and retailed by N. Harding & Co. of Boston (Haverhill). The scoop bowl is gold washed, and has lovely bright cut engraving (flowers with pattern) on the back of the bowl. The scoop has 2 engraved initials on the front, an ornate P and M, and on the back is engraved "Fathers Day 02" (for 1902). This spoon is described as a cheese scoop in the pattern books, but the extreme foldover of the bowl shows it was designed for Stilton cheese. The hallmarks are clear, including Whiting lion makers mark, "PAT 1874 STERLING", retailers mark N Harding & Co (slightly worn but still visible), and additional marks 3 and A near the makers mark. We can date this scoop between 1874 when the pattern was designed by Charles Osborne, and 1889 which is the year Harding & Co closed (operated 1851-1889). We really like this cheese scoop.The Whiting Manufacturing Company was established in 1866, and was a supplier to Tiffany. They wer...

A rare Georg Jensen sterling silver # 42 pattern fork, this design has been called pea pod. The fork is hand hammered, with hammer marks visible, this is a lovely fork, exceptional quality. The fork has 4 tines, and at 14.5 cm length could be either a Child's fork, or small serving fork (ideal for cold cuts). The design is informally known as pea pod, but officially just called pattern # 42. The design is lovely, with 6 cast peas alongside a series of leaves, it has also incorrectly been described as "flattened magnolia". Georg Jensen himself produced this design in 1918, it is one of the "Numbered Ornamental Pieces" that were made in small quantities so not often found. It is depicted in the book "Georg Jensen A Traditional of Splendid Silver", by Janet Drucker, pages 290 and 291, we highly recommend this book. The hallmarks are clear, 42 (pattern number) above Georg Jensen in dotted oval, above "STERLING DENMARK".

A boxed set of six sterling silver Hanoverian pattern teapoons, with matching sugar tongs. The spoons all have rat tails, and the tongs have the spoon pattern repeated on the arms. The quality is good, as you would expect from Mappin & Webb. The original box reads "Mappin & Webb Ltd, Regent Street, London W", this would have been an expensive item when new. All 7 items have excellent hallmarks, the 6 spoons are 1919, the tongs 1920. Mappin and Webb was founded in 1859, it still exists today and is one of Britain's most prestigious brands. In addition to Royal Warrants, Mappin and Webb are the Crown Jeweller.

A Cape silver konfyt fork in the Old English pattern, with 3 tines. The fork has engraved original owners initials MMR, quite quaintly engraved, possibly by an amateur. The makers mark is very well struck and very clear, makers initials ICL between 2 floral devices with 7 petals (Welz mark 78, page 150). Lotter worked at the Cape between 1811 and his death in 1823, he shared a name with his father Johannes Casparus Lotter, who was also a silversmith (12 members of the Lotter family practised as silversmiths).