Silver & Silver-plated items

A number of key sales for dealers and collectors of antique silver were postponed earlier this year. However, plenty is on offer this month and with lockdown in England set to recede, April features a bumper crop

Georgian silver bow corkscrews by Dublin makers are rare beasts and appeal to both silver collectors and helixophiles.

A recent sale at Dawsons’ (23% buyer’s premium) sale in Maidenhead included two George IV tablewares by Edward Farrell chased and embossed with tavern scenes in the manner of Dutch genre painting.

A late 19th century christening bowl offered by Hampshire auction house Hannam’s (23% buyer’s premium) was admired both for its artistry and ownership history.

This Neo-classical silver tea service combines the talents of two giants of the Regency era.

This George III silver table snuff box by Phipps and Robinson, London 1814, is engraved to the cover with a plan of the battle of Talavera in the Peninsular War.

This Victorian silver and enamel cigarette box is decorated to the lid with humorous scene from John Surtees’ Jorrocks, Jaunts and Jollities.

The sale at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on March 8-11 included an example of Alexander Crichton’s famous walrus silver and glass claret jug.

Bolstered by a strong melt price of over £15 an ounce, domestic silver hollowwares and flatwares are selling strongly. However, it is the pieces of collectable value – novelties, provincial rarities and the work of the best Georgian, Regency and Victorian smiths – that continue to perform best in the market

A cigarette box engraved with the facsimile signature Captain Falcon Scott may have been a piece the Antarctic hero gave to a fellow explorer he offended.

This silver teapot has London hallmarks for 1792 and a maker’s mark for silversmith Michael Plummer who worked out of Gutter Lane, London, from 1791-95.

In the absence of face-to-face contact, 2020 was a difficult year for the numismatics market as a whole... but the auction business found a way to thrive.

American pieces understandably dominated the Rago (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) early 20th century Design sale in Lambertville, New Jersey, on January 21.

The February 26-28 sale at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries offers a wide selection of fine art and antiques of American and international interest.

The Mallams (20% buyer’s premium) two-day Jewellery, Watches and Silver sale in Oxford included some exceptional silver lots.

A Winter Estates Sale at Neal in New Orleans from February 5-7 opens with just under 200 lots from the estate of journalist, author and hostess Julia Reed.

On February 25 Doyle in New York will be selling the single-owner Joseph and Miriam Poser Collection of English and American silver card and vesta cases.