Silver & Silver-plated items

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

The windmill cup was the most popular of the novelty silver wager cups produced from the late 16th century until the early 18th century.

When Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 (which had given religious freedom to French protestants), a flood of Huguenot refugees travelled across Europe to places where they could practise their religion in safety.

A collection of silver assembled over half a century by a Brussels general practitioner with a passion for 18th century French silver is to be offered for sale by Dupont & Associés, Morlaix Enchères, at Drouot in Paris on December 6.

As very personal items, typically weighing little more than an ounce of bullion, the most numerous silver survivors from the 17th century are spoons.

This Charles II silver mounted coconut cup is particularly rare on account of its marks for the Hull silversmith Edward Mangie (1634-85).

This pair of William III silver candlesticks came for sale at Potteries Auctions (20% buyer’s premium).

Given their relatively small metal content, many silver-mounted ‘tigerware’ beer jugs survived the great bullion melting of the English Civil War, making them perhaps the most recognised example of late 16th century silver today.

Many sales in late November and early December are assembled with presents in mind and silver and jewellery are much to the fore.

Most angles on the collecting spectrum were covered in Bamfords’ (24.75% buyer’s premium) three-day autumnal catalogue.

A group of antique snuff boxes has been recovered after a theft more than 40 years ago.

A silver tea service presented to Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000) to mark his record England cap has been sold by a Hampshire dealer.

Maltese silver pieces auctioned in the UK return to the Mediterranean island.

A “vanishingly rare” oil by Barnett Freedman (1901-58) showing a newly liberated Normandy town shortly after D-Day is among the star exhibits at the Winter Art & Antiques Fair at Olympia in London.

Equestrian works by the British artist shine as ‘English country house meets Californian chic’

A rare 17th century elephant automaton clock was the star of the Christie’s New York Exceptional sale when it sold at $2.15m (£1.58m) to a private buyer.

Irish castle home of earls about to be turned into hotel and spa furnishes a remarkable sale

This rare Victorian silver vesta case with an enamelled scene of an early tiller-driven automobile is hallmarked for Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1896.

Bonhams’ (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) sale of Silver & Vertu included a number of Irish provincial pieces from the collection of Peter Ticher.

Following an upturn in the fortunes of the silver trade in York, an assay office reopened there in 1776 and remained active until final closure in 1858.