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DESCRIPTION Very large Georgian silver two handled lemon strainer by the pre-eminent specialist piercer of the period. Perhaps more correctly described as an orange or punch strainer as orange juice had been steadily replacing lemon juice as a major ingredient of punch since the 1750s. In 1773 the Birmingham assay office still called such items lemon strainers but from 1777 they were all termed orange strainers and an assay charge of one penny was charged. Probably to avoid paying a similar charge to the London assay office William has simply struck his own punch four times in a pattern similar to the official marks, over striking three variously to alter their appearance. This would have been good enough for most people of the period as very few knew exactly what the official marks should look like and even fewer would have objected to saving money. The large bowl with two leaf capped 'S' scroll handles was designed to sit atop of your punch bowl whilst straining and this example has the the original initial engraving of L*M to the underside of one handle. The gadrooned and applied top rim is not only decorative but adds significant strength to the bowl.
SILVERSMITH William Plummer
DATE or HALLMARK 1770, no date letter, similar and fully hallmarked Plummer orange strainers can be seen here and here but please remember to come back to silfren.com as these links are both to external sites.
ASSAY OFFICE London made but not assayed.
WEIGHT in GRAMS 133
LENGTH in INCHES bowl 4 ¼, across the handles 9.
SILVER STANDARD .925 sterling silver
CONDITION excellent, thick silver throughout, slight bowl bumps.
FAULTS both handles a little bent, one, perhaps both have been reattached and one has two old silver plates added below the joints in the cast handle sections to add strength.
back £450 sold item number: m5092