Silver & Silver-plated items
When it comes to antique silverware, the size and weight of objects does not always determine value. Grand works by the likes of London-based Huguenot Paul de Lamerie or the Germain family in Paris have acquired huge status and value, while small objects such as nutmeg graters, early spoons or vesta cases can command high sums as they have a strong specialist collecting base.
The system of silver hallmarks serves as a quality control, giving an official stamp from showing the metal is of requisite purity, but the marks (or punches) also reveal the year, the place of origin and the identity of the maker, providing pieces of silverware with their own stamped passport of information.
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Tureens on offer from a huge service
01 May 2023The May 18 sale of Jewellery, Watches & Silver at Dawsons includes a pair of silver sauce tureens by William Bateman for Rundell, Bridge & Co, London 1837.
![img_16-6.jpg](/media/91148/img_16-6.jpg?rxy=0.51167728237791932,0.1420824295010846&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133274139180000000)
Styles sculpture tribute to mark Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh silver wedding anniversary
01 May 2023Alex Styles (1922-2017) was in 1966 given a glowing accolade in The Times: “Many think he is the finest designer of hand-made silver in England.”
![img_22-1.jpg](/media/90927/img_22-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133267429250000000)
Rice wine pots come to Europe
24 April 2023While probably not made specifically for export, Chinese silver rice wine pots had arrived in Europe as early as the late 17th century.
![img_20-1.jpg](/media/90913/img_20-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133267420940000000)
Special allure of provincial silver
24 April 2023Objects from Norwich, York, Ireland and Newcastle in recent sales give a snapshot of the market
![img_21-5.jpg](/media/90924/img_21-5.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133267427370000000)
Jugs owned by a gambling man worth a punt at auction
24 April 2023This pair of silver-mounted frosted glass claret jugs has marks for James Samuel Hunt and London, 1844.
![Laquer snuff box](/media/90457/stolen-roundel.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133255943210000000)
Cheshire Police warn antiques dealers to be vigilant following theft
11 April 2023Police are warning antiques dealers to be vigilant following the theft of two silver items and a lacquered snuff box.
![img_14-2.jpg](/media/90304/img_14-2.jpg?rxy=0.39539347408829173,0.48993288590604028&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133248524850000000)
Electrotype tankard copied from ivory original sells in Scotland
03 April 2023This 12in (30cm) high gilt-copper electrotype tankard by Elkington of Birmingham copies an 17th century ivory tankard with silver mounts.
![George III silver wine jug](/media/90084/img_1-1.jpg?rxy=0.40461215932914046,0.23560910307898258&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133243186890000000)
The jug that jogs the memory: pair to wine jug found and then sold at same Yorkshire auction house
27 March 2023The George III silver wine jug sold by Tennants in Leyburn in March is the exact pair to another the auction house offered on behalf of a different vendor two years ago.
![img_31-1.jpg](/media/90170/img_31-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133243921280000000)
Art reunited: two pairs of historical coincidences brought together at TEFAF
27 March 2023A still-life and the vessel it depicts showed up at the same Maastricht fair unexpectedly this year, as did a painting and its study
![img_12-1.jpg](/media/89455/img_12-1.jpg?rxy=0.56672443674176776,0.24393358876117496&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133225702850000000)
Silver: No longer the last days of the Raj
06 March 2023A once neglected aspect of the silver market received a showpiece sale in February. ATG reports on the Stewart collection of Anglo-Indian silver from the Raj period.
![img_17-1.jpg](/media/89478/img_17-1.jpg?rxy=0.30849220103986136,0.35905044510385759&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133225733390000000)
Ashbee’s decanter revisited by Guild
06 March 2023The quasi-medieval silver and glass ‘claret bottle’ designed by Charles Robert Ashbee for the Guild of Handicraft is one of the great pieces of the Arts & Crafts movement. Ashbee mentions it in his 1909 book Modern English Silver, saying: “The shape is taken from an Elizabethan sack-bottle found when digging the foundations of [my home] the Magpie and Stump in Chelsea.”
![img_17-2.jpg](/media/89479/img_17-2.jpg?rxy=0.58953168044077131,0.37774030354131533&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133225734980000000)
Cigars at the officer’s table
06 March 2023Military history and regimental glamour combine in a Victorian silver cigar case offered at Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (25% buyer’s premium).
![img_18-6.jpg](/media/89487/img_18-6.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133225742250000000)
Reward for ‘reading the Riot Act’
06 March 2023Cheffins’ sale of Jewellery, Silver & Watches on April 6 includes, as part of a 100-piece single-owner collection, this 145oz George III silver gilt presentation two-handled cup and cover.
![img_16-1.jpg](/media/89474/img_16-1.jpg?rxy=0.49913344887348354,0.41356673960612689&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133225720420000000)
Christopher Dresser: ‘I propose three feet formed as to serve as handles’
06 March 2023Dr Christopher Dresser’s conical sugar bowl with three angled leg-like supports is one of the great ‘eureka’ moments in Victorian design.
![img_18-4.jpg](/media/89485/img_18-4.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133225738280000000)
The sweet scent of victory – Nelson remembered in silver
06 March 2023A private collection of naval and military vinaigrettes was among the highlights of a recent Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’ premium) Silver & Objects of Vertu auction. It included examples of both familiar and less-familiar models.
![img_21-3.jpg](/media/89499/img_21-3.jpg?rxy=0.537261698440208,0.23019801980198021&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133225746470000000)
Tankard has the look of the Irish
06 March 2023Size, quality and sheer Irishness made the tankard shown here the toast of the silver sold at Ipswich auction house Lockdales (19.5% buyer’s premium).
![img_16-4.jpg](/media/89477/img_16-4.jpg?rxy=0.51529411764705879,0.12086659064994298&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133225721920000000)
The exotic appeal of coconuts and porcelain
06 March 2023Cups with coconut bowls mounted in silver or silver-gilt were fashionable rarities in western Europe throughout the 16th and early 17th century. At the time the coconut was, like other ‘exotics’ such as nautilus shells or imported pottery and porcelain, held in high esteem.
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Rare 17th century silver mug by female silversmith emerges at Surrey auction
06 March 2023The Assay Office in Norwich closed in 1702, so secular objects in particular that bear the city’s mark are rare. Rarer still are pieces bearing the mark of the only female silversmith registered in Norwich towards the end of that period.
![‘Mills bomb’ lighter](/media/89390/img_8-1.jpg?rxy=0.50086355785837655,0.404320987654321&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133219738670000000)
Pick of the week: The lighter side of mass destruction as novelty grenade lights up auction
27 February 2023While they may not appear such comfortable bedfellows today, the novel weapons of mass destruction created during the First World War were deemed a perfectly suitable subject for novelty trinkets of the day.
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Somerset saleroom reaps rewards from series of auctions in the new year
13 February 2023Lawrences of Crewkerne kicks off 2023 with an extensive £1m (premium-inclusive) series of sales over several days
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