Spoon and snail on offer – but nothing sluggish about bidding at Somerset auction

Considering that Norwich was, after London, the largest and wealthiest city in England from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, its assay office (1562-1705) was comparatively shortlived. As such, secular silver produced in the city rarely appears on the market.

This James I or Charles I East Anglian seal-top spoon, above, was therefore a top target for colle…

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