Inscriptions tell tales of colonial silver items
The group of Chinese ‘export’ silver offered by Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Lewes on April 21 came by descent from Reginald Follett Codrington Hedgeland (1874-1967), an Oxford graduate from Exeter who joined the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1898.
This governmental agency, set up to collect maritime taxes during the Taiping Rebellion in 1854, h…