Silver & Silver-plated items

Barkentin and Krall chalice

Barkentin and Krall chalice - £27,500 at JS Auctions.

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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Golf tees off in Shanghai

30 May 2022

Estimated at £120-150, this modest 7in (17cm) high Chinese export silver golfing trophy sold for £5500 at Bourne End Auction Rooms (17.5% buyer’s premium).

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Make your royal mark: Royal commemorative hallmarks

30 May 2022

Goldsmiths’ Company librarian Eleni Bide on commemorative hallmarks

Silver casket with Dr Anna Groundwater

Mary, Queen of Scots silver casket sold to Scottish museum for £1.8m

24 May 2022

A casket believed to have once belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots has been bought by the National Museum of Scotland with help from donors and art funds.

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With this marriage chest I thee wed

23 May 2022

Translating simply as ‘a box with drawers’ but so much more exotic than that, a rare Spanish Renaissance caja con cajones was the outstanding lot at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood’s (25% buyer’s premium) quarterly fine art sale in Exeter.

Baccarat tantalus

Trunk and drunk at the same time for a party

16 May 2022

This remarkable Baccarat tantalus in the form of an elephant and howdah sold at Can$120,000 (£75,000) at an auction in Victoria, British Columbia.

Silver spoons

Farnham antiques centre targeted by thieves

12 May 2022

A Farnham antiques centre is hoping to track down items stolen after a break in last week.

CQD Life-Saving Medal

Titanic twists of fate: tale of two auction lots in the US and UK

11 May 2022

Fate played a cruel hand in the case of two Titanic passengers whose stories have come to light through recent auction lots.

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Snappy Dresser rewarded at £21,000

02 May 2022

The latest design sale at Roseberys featured this Aesthetic movement silver and ivory claret or water jug designed by Christopher Dresser.

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Xianfeng’s flask comes to auction

02 May 2022

Alastair Gibson Auctions has secured a remarkable Chinese imperial object with a Second Opium War provenance for a sale in London in the summer.

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Kendall carved out a reputation for quality

02 May 2022

This large oak Orientalist carving, 'Eastern Slave Girl', is by the Victorian woodcarver Thomas Henry Kendall.

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Indian pieces including jewellery owned by the mother of the Maharajah Duleep Singh attract bids at Bonhams

25 April 2022

The Islamic and Indian Art sale at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) on March 29 was topped by a diamond and emerald set gold pendant from the collection of Maharani Jindan Kaur (1817-63).

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Chaise longue value lies in the maker

11 April 2022

Knowledgeable bidders spot a design by Owen Jones on offer in North Yorkshire

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Rothschild name tempts bidders

04 April 2022

Provenance adds cachet to a varied selection offered in regional sale after London first dibs

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Devlin musical box back at auction

28 March 2022

This parcel gilt musical box decorated with a frieze of figures is by Stuart Devlin (London 1975).

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Admiral’s prize money paid for a splendid service

28 March 2022

This 22oz George II serving dish by Paul de Lamerie (London 1747) was formerly part of the service commissioned by Admiral George Anson (1697-1762).

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Wine-coolers benefit from silver finishing touch

28 March 2022

The London firm Samuel Jackson seems to have specialised in mounting other materials in silver to produce wine-coolers.

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Strike two for Sampson & Mordan vesta cases

28 March 2022

The Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu sale at Dix Noonan Webb (25% buyer’s premium) in London on March 15 included more fine silver and enamel vesta cases by Sampson Mordan & Co to add to those sold by the firm in September 2021.

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Important piece of Victorian silver made to commemorate largest art exhibition in the UK rediscovered in Macclesfield

28 March 2022

With more than 16,000 works on display, 'Art Treasures of Great Britain', held in a temporary iron-and-glass structure built in the Old Trafford area of Manchester in 1857, remains the largest art exhibition to be held in the UK.

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Stored away since 1920s, brought to light in 2022 sale

28 March 2022

Silver was the major strength of a recent two-day sale at Dreweatts (25% buyers’ premium). All bar one of the 549 lots got away to a hammer total tipping the £1m mark.

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Porringer counts as Commonwealth survivor

28 March 2022

An example of 17th century hollowware appeared for sale at Dawsons (23% buyer’s premium) in Maidenhead earlier this year.

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