Silver & Silver-plated items

The collecting history of English silver spoons spans well over a century.

Among the eye-catchers in the general auction at Metz in Heidelberg on March 25-26 is a small, partly enamelled silver box with a gilt interior.

More than 600 lots at Neumeister’s Munich sale on March 30 have been hidden from public view for 90 years, packed in wooden crates.

This silver-gilt chinoiserie garniture would not have looked out of place at the Brighton Pavilion.

An imposing silver gilt jug and basin by a master goldsmith of the Empire period is one of the highlights of Osenat’s L’Empire à Fontainebleau auction.

This cloisonné and plique à jour enamel silver presentation tankard will be one of the highlights of the Gilded Age auction at Freeman’s in Philadelphia on February 24.

A Plymouth solicitor’s lifetime appreciation of West Country silver was shared by enthusiastic bidders at Chilcotts’ (21% buyer’s premium) Honiton rooms.

Bidders backing their judgment sent two lots to 20-times estimates at Mallams’ (25% buyer’s premium) jewellery and silver sale

The potent mix of China, horseracing and the 1851 Great Exhibition yielded a strong price for this splendid ‘export’ silver trophy at auction.

Marked for Savage & Lyman, Montreal, c.1855-60, this silver tankard was awarded to British bare-knuckle boxer Tom Sayers.

Christopher Dresser created a number of daring geometric designs for silver and silver-plated toast racks in the late 1870s and early 1880s, both for Hukin & Heath and for James Dixon & Son.

Brass and steel ‘combination’ or ‘puzzle’ boxes enjoyed a vogue in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

New online databases for extensive archive material of two core disciplines in the antiques trade have been launched.

Eight frost fairs were held on the Thames between 1607-1814, taking advantage of the firm ice that formed on the river as it flowed slowly in the shallows near the old London Bridge.

Further lots from ancient country seat star alongside a stellar specialist collection.

Pook & Pook will hold a wide-ranging Americana and International auction on January 13-14 in Downington, Pennsylvania.

National Museums Scotland has acquired a trio of exceptionally rare Scottish silver objects created in the 1600s from the collection of Edinburgh jeweller Ron (1946-2012) and Rosemary Haggarty.

This late 18th century Channel Islands silver coffee pot has marks for the Jersey silversmith Jacques Quesnel I.