Click on
Thumbnails
below

Description — clicking on underlined text brings up extra full size images of each piece

Stock number

A French silver sifter with richly engraved bowl and cast pierced handle in first quality silver circa 1860, maker's mark indecipherable.
Price: £295.00

An Old English pattern soup ladle by Richard Crossley London 1805, crested for Penton
Price: £250.00

The crest is probably that of Henry Penton (1736-1812) who served as Member of Parliament for Winchester from 1761-1796. On his retirement from the House of Commons he gave a witty speech opposing a tax on dogs. During his lifetime Penton was known for starting a liaison with his wife's maid Martha Judd, a result of which was his wife leaving him and his taking Martha to Italy where he 'had her taught music and languages'. Penton married Martha a few days after his wife's death- Lord Thomond wrote of her that 'Her voice is fine, and she sung so well that Mr Penton said £1,500 a year was offered to her if she would appear upon the Italian stage. The offer was made at Rome'. The location of his London estate still recalls his name- Pentonville.

An Australian fiddle pattern silver toddy ladle, by J. Walker of Darlinghurst, New South Wales, initialled {JJR}.
Price: £250.00

A silver toddy ladle with silver-mounted nut bowl, the wooden handle terminating in a silver bird on the bowl and Gothic finial, dated 11th August 1847 with the initials RTRDBC.
Price:

A Victorian Hanoverian pattern sifter by John Smyth Dublin 1870, crested for Fitzgerald beneath an Earl's Coronet.
Price:

This sifter is in very close mimicry of flatware produced in the mid eighteenth century and there were no Earls in the Fitzgerald family to whom it could have belonged in 1870. On close examination the coronet was originally engraved as that of a Duke for the Dukedom of Leinster, but this has been altered to that of an Earl to match the earlier silver which this sifter was presumably commissioned to augment or to replace a lost original. The Fitzgerald family were Earls of Kildare from 1316 to 1761 when they promoted to the Marquissate of Kildare before gaining their Dukedom in 1766.

This sifter was made during the tenure of Augustus Frederick Fitzgerald, 4th Duke of Leinster (1791-1874) whose godfather was the future George IV (1763-1830). Fitzgerald inherited the Dukedom in 1804 and attended Eton College (1806-1810) and then Christ Church, Oxford from 1810. In 1818 the Duke married Charlotte Augusta, youngest daughter of the 3rd Earl of Harrington, (1793-1859) and the couple had three sons and one daughter.

Leinster held a number of offices during his lifetime and many of these he held for a long time. He was Grand Master of the Irish Freemasons from 1813 (61 years) , Custos Rotulorum of Kildare from 1819 (55 years), Lord Lieutenant of Kildare and a Privy Councillor of Ireland and England from 1831 (33 years) and was Lord High Constable of Ireland at the coronations of William IV and Queen Victoria.

A fiddle pattern silver ladle with a spout (marked on both bowl and handle), by Jonathan Hayne London 1827 .
Price: £195.00

This ladle is made in two pieces and therefore carries a full set of hallmarks on the bowl and part-marks on the handle. This arrangement is that called for by the halmarking legislation of the first half of the nineteenth century but it is extremely rare to find the regulations so closely adhered to.

A George III Old English pattern sauce ladle with beaded borders (extending only half way down the stem), London 1785, crested with a Knight .
Price: £95.00

The short length of beading on the stem of this ladle is an unusual feature. It is possible that this ladle came from the Bateman workshop as the same feature has been seen on a salt ladle by Hester Bateman made in 1782.

A George III Fiddle pattern sauce ladle, marked Sterling (probably Cork) circa 1830, crested for Bellew and initialled {MB} probably for Michael Dillon Bellew (1796-1855), 1st Baronet of Mount Bellew, Co. Galway from 1838. .
Price: £90.00

The Bellew family are of Anglo-Norman origin and had a long association with Leinster. They remained Roman Catholic and under the Cromwellian rule of Ireland in the mid seventeenth century they moved to Galway.

Michael Dillon Bellew (1796-1855) was the only son of Christopher Dillon Bellew of Mount Bellew in County Galway (d. 1826). Michael married Helen Maria Dillon (presumably a cousin in some degree) in 1816 and presumably inherited the family estate on the death of his father- both times when people often purchased silver. In 1838 Michael was made the first Roman Catholic High Sherriff of Galway and received a baronetcy. This ladle, as it is not engraved with the badge of a baronet, can be presumed to date to before his promotion.

A fiddle, thread and shell silver sauce ladle, made in London in 1859, crested with a double plume of feathers coming out of a coronet.
Price: £80.00

The crest on this ladle was used by a number of families: Amory, Arderne, Astley, Linnet, Raines, Reymes, Spitty and Waldegrave.

A George III Old English sauce ladle, by John or James Dunsford Exeter 1810, initialled {JMJ} .
Price: £75.00
Miles Harrison in his 'Exeter and West Country Silver' (2014) notes that 'A JD mark has been noted on sugar tongs, teaspoons and wine labels bearing Exeter hallmarks for 1810 and 1811. This mark could either belong to John Dunsford [d. 1816] or James Newman Dunsford [(d. 1835)].'