Silver & Silver-plated items

Bigger and better sales for Midlands and Surrey auctioneers and a successful debut auction for the new York venture Duggleby Stephenson (17.5% buyer’s premium) made for an encouraging start to autumn.

The multi-talented Deco designer and artist Jean Dunand (1877-1942) is one of the names celebrated in Christie’s selected design sale in Paris on November 14 with around 20 pieces in different media.

Presented to Captain William Lonsdale (1799-1864) in 1842 by the people of Melbourne in recognition of his services to the founding colony, the Lonsdale Silver Presentation has remained in his descendants’ care for 176 years.

From the very beginning of his career as an independent silversmith in the late 18th century, the London craftsman Paul Storr received numerous noble and royal commissions. He was the foremost artisan in his field from the early 1790s until the late 1830s and supplied most of the silverware purchased by the royal household during this period.

“A truly beautiful medal and a royal provenance make this something quite out of the ordinary. And, without hesitation, we can say that it is unique.” Stephen Fenton, specialist at Baldwin’s of St James’s, singled out a George IV accession medal as a highlight of the Peter Earthy collection.

The only known item of silverware to have survived from a lavish diplomatic gift presented to Louis XIV by the King of Siam has been acquired by the Palace of Versailles via a private treaty sale through auction firm Beaussant Lefèvre.

UK dealers buying foreign silver, overseas bidders taking British work and generally solid interest for traditional pieces of mid-ranking silver brightened up the normally quieter late summer sales across the country.

When is the right time to buy a piece of rare antique silver – a George III caviar dish, say?

When it comes to auctions of Stuart Devlin silver, a very good market test is coming up soon. Catherine Southon’s October 3 sale at Farleigh Court Golf Club in Selsdon, Surrey, offers a single-owner collection.

MADAM – I was interested to see the picture of ‘outsize tongs’ considered to vegetable tongs or salad servers from a recent Adam’s sale in Dublin (ATG No 2352, page 21).