An interesting early Georgian Irish Hanoverian tablespoon, made by Alexander Richards in Dublin 1764. The spoon has a frontal rib, strong turn-up and a very narrow oval bowl. It is engraved with a Griffin crest on the back of the spoon, showing this spoon was placed on the table bowl down. The spoon is bottom marked, the date letter is very clear, but the makers mark , crowned harp and Hibernia are are worn, but still discernable. Alexander Richards, a noted Irish spoonmaker, worked between 1724 and 1768 (Bennett, Irish Silver, pg 152).

A rare pair of Cape Silver sugartongs, in the Kings pattern with diamond heel. They are very good gauge, solid and well made with a strong bow, suitable for use. Whilst Cape sugartongs are known, most are plain (Welz, Cape Silver), this is the only example of Cape sugartongs in the Kings pattern we have ever encountered. The hallmarks are very clear, makers mark FW and the "Cape Stub", 4 pseudo - English hallmarks (lion passant, date letter, duty mark and leopard's head) struck mechanically in a fly press (see article on Cape Stub in "The Finial, 2007, and in the articles tab above). Fredik Waldek was also a chronometer, clock maker and jeweller. Heller (History of Cape Silver) commended Waldek for "excellent workmanship", these tongs are no exception. Only Waldek and Twentyman produced Kings pattern in the Cape.

A truly stunning Nathaniel Mills gilt vinaigrette, slightly larger than average. The box is gilt with scrolling foliate decoration, and has the initials JL engraved on the lid. The grille is beautiful, with intricate flowers and scrolling vegetation. The inscription is engraved on an inserted plate (which covers the date stamp) and reads "Presented to Dr Lamprey as a token of gratitude for his kind and unremitting attention to the Rev.d Dr Fraill during his last illness 21 April 1847".

An early antique silver vesta case, with an applied cast golfer in full swing. The vesta is rectangular, with applied strike plate on the bottom of the vesta, the hinge lid has a suspension loop for adding to a chain. Dated 1886 this is an early vesta case, most vestas date between 1890 and 1920. The hallmarks are clear, and include makers mark WG/JL (William Gibson & John Lawrence Langman) of Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co of Regent Street, a very prestigious firm founded in 1882, now the designated house of Crown Jewellers Garrards, following amalgamation in 1952 (both part of Sears via Mappin & Webb). John Langman was an interesting personality, he equipped and maintained the Langham Field Hospital during the Boer War (Culme, Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, page 184).

An Arts & Crafts silver sauce boat, with planished (hand hammered) body and a beautiful curvi-linear bi-furcating handle. The sauce boat has 3 feet, and is the traditional shape with a deep lip, very suitable for pouring. The hand hammered body and handle picks up the light, this is a lovely item. The handle is Art Nouveau in shape and style. The hallmarks are very well struck and clear, including makers mark G.U for George Unite & Sons, the business was founded in 1825 by George Unite, who apprenticed with Joseph Willmore, it still trades today.

A nine carat gold fishing rod and reel brooch, with a cast silver and enamel rainbow trout jumping over the rod. The fish has lovely detail, and the colours are realistic, the enamel work perfect, with no damage. The rod is segmented, overall this is a lovely brooch. The rod is hallmarked 9CT for 9 carat gold in 2 places, and also makers mark A&W, the fish is stamped SILVER. The box is also good quality, leather and silk, and reads "Terry & Co, Goldsmiths & Silversmiths, Corner of Cross St & King St, Manchester. We have traced an advert of theirs to 1967.

A pair of Cape silver sugar tongs, in the Fiddle pattern, with original engraved initials IB. The hallmarks are very clear, and include makers mark FW and the Cape stub, comprising of 4 pseudo hallmarks (lion passant facing right, date letter A, Georgian duty mark and leopards head town mark). Cape silver sugar tongs are rarely encountered.

Design registered by the retailer Thornhill of New Bond Street on 21 June 1870. The bugle carries the registry mark, Thornhill engraving and full hallmarks for Sampson Mordan, London 1874. Has hanging chain and screw stopper on separate chain, both original. The perfume bottle cap is also hallmarked, and has the original cork stopper, in excellent condition. It is a screw cap which fits snugly and closes perfectly.

A Scottish provincial silver basting (or gravy) spoon in the Fiddle pattern, made by Alexander Cameron in Dundee, with Edinburgh hallmarks for 1824. The spoon is good quality and has a good feel, it is suitable for use as a serving spoon. The hallmarks are excellent, and include the "CAM over ERON" and "DUN over DEE" marks used by Cameron, along with very clear Edinburgh marks. Cameron was apprenticed to Robert Keay of Perth, and worked between 1818 and 1849. Following the re-imposition of duties in Great Britian in 1784, a duty mark had to be struck on silver, which in Scotland could only be done in Edinburgh. This meant that the provincial silversmiths had to submit their silver to Edinburgh - often a long arduous journey, so few did. By the 1820's when this spoon was made, provincial silversmiths such as Cameron submitted a portion of their silver to Edinburgh, to satisfy the authorities.

A rare 18th century Birmingham silver caddy spoon by leading maker Joseph Taylor. The spoon is a naturalistic veined leaf, very finely decorated on the back and the front, the handle a coiled tendril, simply formed from silver wire rolled into a circle, with a tail, flattened to form the connection with the bowl, it works remarkably well. The hallmarks have been individually very carefully struck, as a result all 5 hallmarks are fully intact and clearly visible, which is not often the case with finely decorated silver. They include Birmingham anchor, date letter b for 1799, cusped duty mark, lion passant and makers mark IT for Joseph Taylor. 3 very similar caddy spoons are depicted in the book "Caddy Spoons" by John Norie (a book we highly recommend), figure 59g, by Joseph Taylor dated 1798, and also 2 by Elizabeth Morley (dated 1802 and 1815), figure 22a and c. The same book says "all 18th century Birmingham caddy spoons must be considered comparatively rare and desirable, the facts are that very few were ma...

A beautiful Italian silver salt cellar, made in the Kingdom of Naples (Napoli) or the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, at the end of the French Domination period when the Kingdom had Napoleonic rulers, the French influence can be seen in the design. The cellar has 2 parts, a circular base with intricate pierced skirting, gadrooned rim, and 3 wonderful cast feet with lion heads with rings, and paw feet, the detail is lovely. The feet are supported by curved triangular supporting bars, which contain the hallmarks. The base holds a circular gilded cellar, which can be removed for cleaning, it is held in place with a locking mechanism, 2 bars that fit into slots and then rotate to secure. In addition to the beautiful design, the quality is very pleasing, this would have been an expensive item when new. The condition is also pleasing, just a small dent to the cellar, and another dent to the skirting, salt cellars were well used and often are damaged. The base has 3 hallmarks, makers mark GB under device (all assistan...

A beautiful set of 6 antique silver oyster forks, with gilded bowls, of outstanding quality and in excellent condition. The forks have a teaspoon shaped bowl, with 3 fat tines, and a cutting edge on one side, although this is not sharp, the bowls are also gilded front and back. The forks have Rococo handles with small flowers and foliage, this is model 195 from the Bruckmann & Sohne catalogue, first produced in 1896. The forks are also engraved with original owners initials GM, this engraving is also incredibly detailed, the work of a master craftsman. The forks are all clearly hallmarked with the German post 1888 crescent and crown, along with 800 standard mark and makers mark of eagle with spread wings. 4 of the forks are also hallmarked with retailers mark "Gutig" for C.F. Gutig of Leipzig, leading jewelers for over 150 years from 1783-1933. Bruckmann & Sohne of Heilbron worked between 1805 and 1968, at the time these beautiful forks were made they were the largest silversmith in Germany. Whilst these beau...

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 Danish silver Skonvirke (Arts & Crafts) pastry or cake server, made by the respected Danish silversmith Evald Nielsen in 1925. The server is the No 4 pattern, which has organic flowing scrolls in relief, so quite pleasing to hold. The server is hand hammered, with the planish marks visible on the blade and the stem. The blade is nicely shaped, and has a raised lip which increases away from the pointed tip, so very practical to use. The server is 830 grade silver, as is usual for Danish silver. The well struck hallmarks include "Evald Nielsen" in an attractive script, with "No 4" indicating pattern, date letter "ANNO 1925", the letter "S" surrounded by dots in shaped punch for silver, and "830" in oval punch surrounded by dots for grade of silver. Evald Nielsen worked between 1905 and 1958 from Copenhagen, he designed all his own designs (as opposed to his contemporary Georg Jensen). He won numerous awards internationally, and his silver can be seen in numerous museums, including the Metropolitan in New York...

9 carat gold, beautifully cast and chased in the form of a clam shell. Beautiful hinge.

Rare set of 6 Cape fiddle pattern dessert forks, with very clear English pseudo hallmarks and makers mark on all 6 forks. They have an interesting crest, a roaring half rampant lion with his front paws on a strange shaped object (we guess a church with a spire?).

A pleasing, heavy caddy spoon by the well known caddy spoon maker Thomas James, whose spoons often have interesting handle shapes, and a "fish-tail" projection at the base of the handle. The spoon has a beautiful crest of a hand holding a cross, with the motto "VIRTUTI FORTUNA COMIS", translated "excellence, fortune and kindness". The hallmarks are very clear. This spoon appears to be an identical twin of a spoon sold by Woolley and Wallis from the John Norie collection, Part 1, April 2004, lot 132. We have now identified the family crest as belonging to the Mayne Family of Scotland, from Tullibody & Powis in Stirling. The crest is described as "Cubit arm, erect, proper habited sable cuff argent holding a cross crosslet gules", the motto above the crest denotes a Scottish family. One possible original owner of this spoon is Colonel William Mayne, who served as Captain of the 1st Life Guards at Waterloo. Thomas James was freed in 1789, but only entered his own mark in 1804.

An antique Essex crystal brooch, set in an attractive 18 carat gold setting with rope border. The brooch contains the burgee (yacht club pennant) of the Royal London Yacht Club, with the London crest under a crown. The brooch is of extremely good quality, and is in immaculate condition. The crystal is convex, polished into a cabochon, the image itself is carved and hand painted, and the viewer is given a 3 dimensional view. The Royal London Yacht Club was founded in 1838, and is now based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The hallmarks are very clear, and include the crown and "18" indicating 18 carat gold, Chester wheatsheaf town mark, date letter gothic "S" for 1881, and makers mark R.N. for Richard Nevill, who was a manufacturing jeweller based in Birmingham (Chester Gold and Silver Marks, Ridgway and Priestley, pg 360), they worked between 1880 and 1917. The rim has additional 18 ct hallmarks, and the gold pin is also hallmarked.

A Victorian silver "Mr. PUNCH" pin tray, small and dainty but with a lot of detail in the design. This design was originally used in 1849 on Punch Magazine, the artist was Richard Doyle (Punch magazine was first published in 1841, some commentators refer to this picture as from the first edition, which is incorrect). The tray is rectangular, with a shell and scroll border, embossed with "PUNCH" above Mr. Punch painting his dog Toby, surrounded by 17 different figures (monkeys, a group of musicians, and someone riding a donkey, even a devil popping out of a cornucopia!). The easel between Punch and Toby is not clear on the front, but can be clearly seen on the back of the tray, we suspect the die was worn when this was produced, rather than wear since then. The tray is stamped out of quite thin silver, and was clearly mass produced as a novelty for the Victorian market where the "Punch and Judy' show was very popular. The hallmarks are clearly struck at the base of the design, including makers mark CSFS for C...

An interesting pair of Cape silver spoons, one tablespoon and one dessertspoon, both by Lawrence Twentyman and both engraved with an original family crest of winged castle turret below circular cross. These spoons are of hallmarking interest, as even though they have the same pseudo hallmarks, the larger spoon has the normal sized LT makers mark punch, and the smaller spoon has the smaller LT punch. The spoons are Fiddle pattern, and are a 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). 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 and dessertspoons S 11353. Note 2 - With the assistance of a customer, we have now identified the engraved crest as the ...