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 Chinese Export silver dessertspoon in the Fiddle pattern, with very clear pseudo hallmarks. The spoon has original engraved initials (now worn), and has been well used. The hallmarks include pseudo lion passant, pseudo crowned leopard's head town mark, makers mark YS and pseudo duty mark, these marks are very clearly struck, but show wear to the punches from prolonged use. The website www.chineseexportsilver.com also notes that "Yatshing silver is always of a high standard", and the book "Chinese Export Silver describes Yatshing as "quite prolific".

A Chinese Export silver dessertspoon in the Fiddle pattern, made by the respected maker Khecheong in Canton. The spoon has no engraving or any signs of removal of engraving. The hallmarks are clear, and include pseudo duty mark, pseudo crowned leopards head town mark, pseudo lion passant and makers mark KHC (slight wear to K). Khecheong was one of the most prolific Chinese Export silversmiths, he worked from Club Street, Honam Island, Canton between 1840 and 1870. He has been described as a "good silversmith" Forbes, Chinese Export Silver 1785-1885, page 255 - a book we highly recommend.

A set of three sterling silver tablespoons in the popular Fiddle, Thread and Shell pattern, with engraved Marais Family coat of arms, which is very clear. The spoons are a substantial size and weight, 105 grammes each, the quality is excellent (tablespoons over 100 grammes are rare). The hallmarks are very clear, including makers mark D&J W, for Daniel & John Wellby, who worked between 1827 and 1974 from Garrick Street, London. The Marais family coat of arms is described as "Azure, a chain sable fesswise, in chief a crescent reversed and a base of two hills vert" - Pama, Heraldry of South African Families, page 53, depicted on Plate 18, no 280, of the Bell Krynauw Collection. It dates back to Charles Marais of the farm Plasir de Merle, who arrived in the Cape in 1688, and was "murdered by a Hottentot on the farm in 1689". Note - we have other matching items with the Marais Family armorial.

A set of three sterling silver items, namely ladle, saltspoon and butterknife, in the popular Fiddle, Thread and Shell pattern, with engraved Marais Family coat of arms, which is very clear on all 3 items. The ladle is a pleasing size and weight,108 grammes, the quality is excellent on all 3 items. The hallmarks are very clear, including makers mark D&J W, for Daniel & John Wellby, who worked between 1827 and 1974 from Garrick Street, London. The Marais family coat of arms is described as "Azure, a chain sable fesswise, in chief a crescent reversed and a base of two hills vert" - Pama, Heraldry of South African Families, page 53, depicted on Plate 18, no 280, of the Bell Krynauw Collection. It dates back to Charles Marais of the farm Plasir de Merle, who arrived in the Cape in 1688, and was "murdered by a Hottentot on the farm in 1689". Note - we have other matching items with the Marais Family armorial.

A very rare Victorian silver Straight Tudor pattern flatware set, made by Chawner & Co, the leading flatware maker of Victorian England. The spoons and forks are fabulous quality, and are in excellent condition. The Straight Tudor pattern is a Gothic Revival pattern, it omits 2 small scroll circular projections on each side of the stem, this differentiates it from the "Tudor" pattern. All 48 pieces are clearly hallmarked, they also carry the British Registry design number and date chart diamond, which rarely occurs on silver flatware - class I for metal, date letter v for 1850, and R 14 indicating 14 August. The presence of the design mark indicates that Chawner registered the design to protect it from being copied. Straight Tudor is described by Pickford (Silver Flatware page 149) as "a rare 19th century Chawner & Co design which appears in their pattern book (page 219), registered August 14th 1850, along with Tudor. Services and pieces are rare, building a service would be extremely difficult". The Tudor ...

An extremely rare child's puritan spoon, dating back to the Commonwealth period, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of England. The spoon has a flat stem with straight sides, and a curved spade shaped bowl. The spoon also has a small V shaped drop. The puritan spoon replaced the slip-top spoon (with hexagonal stem and fig shaped bowl) during the early Commonwealth period, and gained it's name from Cromwell's Puritan soldiers opposed to King Charles I, who considered the more elaborate Apostle spoons "irreverant" (Gask, Old Silver Spoons of England, pg 92). Given that so much silver was melted down during and after the English civil war, Puritan spoons are rare, and the smaller children's puritan spoons are extremely rare. A very similar spoon to this, described as "Rare Charles I child's puritan spoon, 1646, exhibited in Cardiff Museum" was sold as lot 35 of the famous "Alexander James Collection of Early English Silver Spoons", Phillips 1979, with an estimate of GBP 500-600. Steven Venables worked in L...

An antique silver nutcracker, quite a rare item as nutcrackers are usually silver plate, occasionally with silver handles, this example is solid silver, so quite an extravagance in it's day. The nutcracker is the usual form, with 2 handles connected with an extremely strong hinge, the arms are reversible, so can be turned around to accommodate different sized nuts. The cracking portion is oval in shape, with textured sides to hold nut firmly in place, with rectangular hole to allow shell to pass through. The handles are rounded, with balls on the ends. These are good quality nutcrackers, quite heavy at just under 200 grammes, and very suitable for use. Both arms and the hinge are clearly hallmarked. William Comyns & Sons was an important firm of manufacturing silversmiths, established in 1859, they supplied many of the leading retailers, including Tiffany, Thornhills of New Bond Street, and Carringtons, Wilson & Gill and Goldsmiths & Silversmiths of Regent Street (Culme, Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, pa...

A collection of 3 18th century Miniature snuff or toy spoons in the Hanoverian pattern, possibly all by the same maker Christian Hillan. The first spoon is hallmarked with makers mark CH under a star, we believe this to be the mark of Christian Hillan, Grimwade mark 326, this mark is well struck but slightly squashed by the small size of the handle. The spoon has a long drop which we date to circa 1740, the spoon is 7.7 cm long and weighs 5 grammes, the quality and condition of this spoon is excellent, we really like this spoon. The next 2 spoons are a pair, both are engraved on the back with script owners initials IJ, these spoons are possibly slightly later in date as they have no drop. They are 7.5 cm in length, and weigh 5 grammes combined. Both are in good condition, with very slight kink in the bowls. Both are hallmarked twice with the same makers mark, this is only partially visible, script letters, possibly CH for Christian Hillan (Grimwade 333), but it could also be John Hugh Le Sage (Grimwade 1681) ...

An interesting pair of Cape silver dessertspoons, engraved with an original family crest of winged castle turret below circular cross. The spoons are Fiddle pattern, and are very pleasing quality and weight. The hallmarks are also very clear on both spoons, pseudo duty mark, pseudo castle town mark with flag flying, pseudo date letter C and makers mark LT (mark 140 in Cape Silver and Silversmiths by Welz). What makes these spoons interesting is the different sized makers mark, one has the usual larger size LT punch, the other has a much smaller LT punch, we assume intended for hallmarking smaller items. 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 1832. Note - These spoons match the pair of tablespoons S11352. Note 2 - With the assistance of a customer, we have now identified the engraved crest as the Heathcote family, described as "On a mural crown, a sphere charged with a cross, between tw...

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).

An early Irish silver rat-tail Hanoverian tablespoon, made in 1729 by Esther Forbes, the widow of Robert Forbes. The spoon is lovely quality, a pleasing weight, and in remarkably good condition. The spoon has a deep frontal rib running halfway down the handle, with a strong turn-up, and the traditional rat-tail used before 1730. The spoon has original engraved family crest on the back of the spoon (spoons were placed face down at this period), the crest featured a raised arm in armour holding a cross (slight wear to the cross). The 3 hallmarks are clear, makers mark EF in oval punch (slight wear to F, looks more like EE), date letter gothic K for 1729, and crowned harp, with slight wear but clearly discernable. This spoon predates the Irish Hibernia mark which was introduced in 1731. Robert Forbes worked between 1701 and his death in 1718, his widow Esther continued the business until 1729. A number of their spoons have survived. Robert was a Quarter Brother (Collecting Irish Silver by Douglas Bennett, page 1...

A pair of Indian Colonial sauce ladles, made by Hamilton & Co, the "Garrards of India". The ladles are in the Fiddle, Thread and Shell pattern, and are double struck, and are pleasing quality, and in good condition. The hallmarks are clear on both ladles, makers mark H&Co, Elephant, date letter A and different tally marks, C and 2 semi circles, these marks were used 1860-1914 (source www.ascasonline.org, History and Marks of Hamilton & Co). Note the unusual & in the makers mark (quite fat), different makers marks were used by Hamilton over the years, this should assist more precise dating, further research is required. Note: We have matching sifter and salt spoons.

A pair of lovely steam train sterling silver spoons, depicting the Rovos Rail steam train and wagons of Southern Africa. The spoons have good detail, and show steam train, caol wagon, water wagon and passenger compartment. The passenger wagon has engraved initials RVR for Rovos Rail (see www.rovos.com), the spoons have teaspoon sixed bowls but the handles are longer. The handles are cast silver and pierced. Both spoons are hallmarked with makers mark "C.M" for Cape Mint, and also "SIL" for sterling silver. We assume the spoons were made to commemorate the opening of Rovos Rail in 1986. Rovos Rail is a luxury rail service operating in Southern Africa, the Pride of Africa has been described as the "most luxurious train in the world".

An Irish antique silver sauce ladle, in the Celtic pointed pattern, also called Pointed Old English. The ladle has a beautiful original engraved family crest of a stag's head with a cross between the antlers, the detail is good with no wear. This we believe is the family crest of the Bassett family, described as "A Stag's Head Caboshed, And Between The Attires A Cross Patt Fitch Arg" - source (www.myfamilysilver.com). The hallmarks are excellent, they could not be clearer, including makers mark JP for John Power. Pickford, in his book "Silver Flatware", states that most Irish flatware of this period is this Celtic Pointed variant, which is only found in Ireland and Scotland.

An interesting set of 6 Art Deco sterling silver sandwich flags, perfectly preserved in their original box. The silver flags are accompanied by 20 double sided interchangeable plastic flag names, these include: - caviare, tomato& cheese, smoked salmon,beef, cucumber, sardine, anchovy,chicken, egg& anchovy, egg, ham, cheese, tomato, lobster, cress, smoked roe, crab, banana, tongue and fish. The flags themselves are good quality, ivory in colour (sometimes described as ivorine, certainly intended to imitate ivory) with clear black lettering, all 20 are in good condition. The flags can be interchanged according to the menu. It is interesting to see what would have been on the sandwich menu in 1929, caviare, smoked roe and lobster, but also banana! All 6 flags are fully hallmarked, clearly legible on 5 flags, one flag has indistinct marks. All 6 flags are also marked "Made in England", alongside a provisional patent number "Pro/ Pt 33279/28" and design registration number "Rd 742069". Adolph Scott worked between...

A delightful pair of miniature silver toy spoons, in the Hanoverian pattern, with scroll backs. The spoons have original owners engraved initials J.P and S.P respectively, the engraving is crude, done by an amateur, but with loads of character (one possibility is these were given to twins as birth spoons). The engraving is on the back of the spoons, as is usual with 18th century examples. The spoons are clearly a matching pair, but have differences in the handle sizes (one being slightly wider), so clearly hand made. Both spoons have 2 hallmarks, lion passant and makers mark WP for William Pinder, marks are slightly worn, one is better than the other. Pinder was a smallworker, he worked between 1770 and 1784. Small spoons smaller than teaspoon size have traditionally been described as snuff spoons, they vary from 4 to 9 cm, (1.5 - 3.5 inches). Newer research has noted the wide variety of sizes, and suggested the smaller ones are snuff, and larger ones are toy spoons. Scroll back spoons were popular 1760-1770,...

A rare Irish Provincial teaspoon in the Fiddle pattern, made in Cork by Samuel Green circa 1800, with a very rare Irish retailers mark. The teaspoon is quite long with a narrow bowl, and is hallmarked with incuse makers mark SG for Samuel Green, incuse STERLING guarantee mark, and retailers mark L.O.H in a rectangular punch, which is believed to be for Laurence O'Hagan, a watchmaker and presumably retailer in Limerick. Laurence O'Hagan, Watchmaker appears in the Hibernian Journal in 1791 on his marriage to Miss Quinn and again in 1804 on his marriage to Miss Bryan (source Silver Forums at 925-1000.com, on the Limerick and Irish Retailers marks pages). All the hallmarks are clear, especially the retailer mark, the G from STERLING is only partially struck. Irish provincial silver is quite rare, and often the hallmarks are worn or poorly punched, so this spoon is a nice example. Cork did not have an assay office, so the silversmiths adopted an unofficial STERLING mark to denote the 925 quality standard. This i...

A pair of Arts and Crafts sterling silver condiment spoons, made by the little known silversmith Denis Lacy-Hulbert. The spoons have oval shallow bowls, and flat rectangular stems which are planished (hand hammered), very similar in style to Puritan spoons. The hallmarks form part of the decoration, proudly struck on the front of the stems, evenly spaced, these are very clear, and include makers mark D L-H. Note - we have a very similar pair, just larger in size, S 11273. Denis (Ben) Lacy-Hulbert (1911-2005) was Managing Director of a family steel tube/ cylinder manufacturing business, silversmithing was a hobby, very few items are recorded by him. Denis also made antique replica items in 18 carat gold, notably a strawberry dish and tumber cups. Denis Lacy-Hulbert registered his mark in 1953, but most surviving work appears to be between 1972 and 1983, he was based in Chesterfield, Darbyshire. The business Lacy-Hulbert & Co was founded by Denis and Cyril's father Charles in 1903, they were pneumatic enginee...

An Arts and Crafts sterling silver butter knife, made by the little known silversmith Denis Lacy-Hulbert. The knife has the traditionally shaped blade, for spreading, not cutting, and a flat rectangular stem which is planished (hand hammered, the blade is also planished), very similar in style to Puritan spoons. The hallmarks form part of the decoration, proudly struck on the front of the stems, evenly spaced, these are very clear, and include makers mark D L-H and the optional Silver Jubilee mark used in 1977 to celebrate 25 years on the throne for Queen Elizabeth II. Denis (Ben) Lacy-Hulbert (1911-2005) was Managing Director of a family steel tube/ cylinder manufacturing business, silversmithing was a hobby, very few items are recorded by him. Denis also made antique replica items in 18 carat gold, notably a strawberry dish and tumber cups. Denis Lacy-Hulbert registered his mark in 1953, but most surviving work appears to be between 1972 and 1983, he was based in Chesterfield, Darbyshire. The business Lac...