Both by Jonathan Madden, London, 1707, the 10in (25cm) diameter tazza and the 8¼in (21cm) tall tankard bore the same engraved cartouche and a foliate scroll cypher.
The unsentimental decision to part the two proved commercially sound when the tazza, at £2400, and the tankard, at £3000, both went well above estimates but to different UK buyers.
With decent prices throughout, the best-seller at the 800-lot silver and vertu sale on October 8 was a 6½in (16cm) seal-top spoon by Robert Robinson, Hull, which went to a collector above estimate at £5500.
Russian 1896-1908 silver and enamelled dish – £3400 also at Lawrences.
Surprise of the silver was a small Russian dish decorated in 17th century style with enamelled polychrome flowers and a bird against a white ground and cloisonné enamelled flowers to the underside.
Bearing the maker’s mark CPK with Russian state marks for 1896-1908, the 3¼in (9cm) dish was pitched at £250-300 and sold to ‘an international buyer’ bidding on thesaleroom.com at £3400.
Salver standard
London 1737 salver by George Abercromby – £4800 at Chiswick Auctions.
Bidders from Europe, China, Canada and Alaska enhanced spirited bidding during the silver sale at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) but a UK private buyer with a special interest took the top-seller.
This was a salver made by George Abercromby, London 1737. The 19¼in (47cm) diameter salver was centred by an impaled coat of arms featuring bacchanalian putti, waterfall and a demi-maiden holding a garland and a lion’s head mask.
The reverse was inscribed The gift of William Serjeantson Esq. 1737.
A fairly standard piece, but the arms of one John Smith and his second wife Ann Hodgson made the salver desirable to a descendant of the Yorkshire couple who took it at £4800 via an online bid, a fraction under the low estimate.
London 1682 livery or alms badge –£3800 also at Chiswick Auctions.
Other successes at the October 23 sale in west London included a soup tureen by John Scofield, London, 1785, at £4000 to a private bidder, an extremely rare London 1682 livery or alms badge by Francis Singleton bought by a collector at £3800 and a London, 1680, tankard by Thomas King which went to an online Continental buyer at £2800.
Keen as mustard
Mustard pot by William Eaton, London 1820 – £2100 at Kingham & Orme.
The first part of a 470-strong collection of silver mustard pots offered at Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium) in Evesham on October 3 comprised 102 pieces by many of the better-known 18th-19th century silversmiths. All of them sold – generally well above estimates – with bids coming from Australia, the US and the Far East.
Top-seller was one by William Eaton, London, 1820, which included a silver liner by Eaton dated 1822.
Standing 4in (10.5cm) tall, the 15oz pot featuring eagles modelled in relief bore the crest of Charles Brownlow of Lurgan and, against a £500-800 estimate, sold at £2200.
Also contributing to the £28,000 hammer total for the mustard pots was a range of well-regarded 18th- 19th century London makers.
A 1790 straight-sided oval pot with pierced shell thumbpiece to the domed lid and its glass liner by Hester Bateman was offered with a Bateman 1787 spoon, and went to an Australian bidder above hopes at £1100.
The same online buyer took a 1773 pot by Thomas Nash with reticulated cylindrical form and glass liner at £950.
