Silver & Silver-plated items

A striking pair of William IV silver open salts by Paul Storr (London 1835) came for sale at Chorley’s (28.2% buyer’s premium inc VAT) latest biannual sale of Fine Jewellery, Silver, Gold and Watches.

A rare example of Norfolk Charles I silver – a seal-top spoon made by the patriarch of the famous Haslewood silversmithing dynasty – sold for £3600 at a recent sale of Silver and Objects of Vertu at Chiswick Auctions (26% buyer’s premium) in London.

A Henry VIII silver and parcel gilt apostle spoon, stamped to the stem with a distinctive maker’s mark of a heart in a conforming heart and dated London 1532, caused quite a stir when it appeared at Canterbury Auction Galleries (25% buyer’s premium).

The market has certainly been challenging but recent results allied with metal prices give encouraging grounds for optimism

New Orleans dealership MS Rau has acquired 222 pieces of English silver from the collection of Texan businessman Billy Joe ‘Red’ McCombs (1927-2023).

Dreweatts’ (26/25% buyer’s premium) Fine Jewellery, Silver, Watches and Objects of Vertu sale of June 18 offered only 35 lots of silver but all were good quality and many rare in form.

As previewed in ATG No 2648, Bonhams’ Fine Decorative Arts sale at New Bond Street on July 5 featured this rare Elizabethan silver-gilt tankard, London 1592, with maker’s mark 'IB' possibly for John Brodie (Brode), or John Bottomley.

This table lighter offered by Great Western Auctions (24% buyer’s premium) of Glasgow in the Summer Two Day Fine Art & Antiques Auction had marks for the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Co, London 1916, making it one of the earliest of its type.

A fine example of Thai silversmithing sold well above its estimate for €17,000 (£14,400) at Historia Auctionata (27% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Berlin on June 19. The 9in (23cm) parcel gilt and niello pumpkin-form tea kettle probably dated from the 1870s.

Although the designer and silversmith are unknown, this silver snake jug forms part of the group of trompe l’oeil objects produced during the 1870s-80s by the Gorham factory in Providence, Rhode Island.

A number of strong performers stood out in a variety of individual pieces offered in Bamfords’ (24.75% buyer’s premium) large four-day auction

A set of 10 plates from a well-documented Sèvres service from the July Monarchy period emerged for sale at Tremont Auctions (27% buyer’s premium) in Sudbury, Massachusetts, on June 2.

A gold and cameo ring offered with an estimate of just £200-300 at Derbyshire auction house Irita Marriott (plus 28.8% buyer’s premium inc VAT) and catalogued as 19th century caught the eye of a number of jewellery dealers and bidders from as far as Paris and the US.

Marion Antique Auctions’ (23% buyer’s premium) May 4 sale included a 1913 yachting trophy made for the winner of the Eastern Yacht Club Cruise. That winner turned out to be Elena, a 136ft vessel owned by railroad baron Morton Plant (1852-1918).

This large silver zoomorphic aquamanile Caquesseitão (a vessel designed for the ceremonial washing of hands at the table) will feature as a highlight of the May sale to be held by Veritas Art Auctioneers in Lisbon.

A vesta case decorated with a campaigning Suffragette is among the highlights at the Buxton Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair.