Silver & Silver-plated items

Although 17th and 18th century Jamaican silver is some of the rarest colonial plate, two small waiters sold at auctions in the north of England in as many months.

One of the eight York Rose brooches given by Prince Albert to the bridesmaids who attended his marriage to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 sold for £15,000.

An extensive collection of art, antiques and silver from Corby Castle, one of Cumbria’s most historically important mansion houses, will go under the hammer in a three-day sale at Tennants from January 22-24.

Irish silver rarely appears at German auctions but when it does, it seldom goes unnoticed.

This horn casket was presented to King Edward VII on March 28, 1901 by the Worshipful Company of Horners.

The city of Newcastle enjoyed a long gold and silversmithing tradition.

Numerous pieces of British Aesthetic movement and Arts & Crafts silver were up for sale at Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) in Cologne on November 21.

Elwin de Wolf, based in the Netherlands, has been collecting silver enamel boxes for around 20 years.

‘Drum’ form mustard pots – known at the time as mustard tankards or cans – first emerged in the second half of the 18th century as the fashion changed from dry to wet mustard.

This pair of mid-18th century Dresden sauceboats were once part of the huge holdings of silver used at the court of Frederick Augustus II (1733-63).

Charles Robert Ashbee’s pseudo medieval wirework silver and glass jugs and bottles rank among the Guild of Handicraft’s finest work.

Although Malta supported an estimated 600 makers from 1680-1820, relatively little silver from the period survived on the island.

The term pomander derives from the French pomme d’ambre, meaning ‘apple of amber’, a reference to the aromatic substances – ambergris, musk, civet, and spices – once formed into small balls and carried as protection against disease.

Richard Joyce, a member of one of the Tribes of Galway (the 14 merchant families who dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city), led an extraordinary life.

Although termed strawberry dishes, the classic early Georgian plain serving dish with raised fluted sides and a scalloped rim, were used for a variety of purposes.

Sustained scrap silver prices of more than £30 an ounce have sent large quantities of middle-of-the-road Georgian and Victorian domestic silver to the melting pot. Today, to sell well above the bullion price, it helps if silver comes with a strong narrative. ATG reports on a few great storytellers.

Scottish contemporary silver by Graham Leishman Stewart (1955-2020), squirreled away for decades in private collections, is now slowly beginning to reach the secondary market.

Irish silver pocket corkscrews from the Georgian period are not common.