| INDEX | ALL SILVER |
| DESCRIPTION | Extraordinarily good and historically important set of eight plus one antique English Georgian solid sterling silver Old English pattern dessert spoons with double,
facetted drops and frontal crest engraving. Yes, I know and I briefly thought that too. They cannot be original Old English pattern from 1731. They must be Hanoverian conversions and yet they are not. There
is absolutely no evidence of a conversion, everything is perfectly genuine. Even if you could reverse the turn to the terminal, and a very good silversmith probably could, how would you deal with the
engraving? Hanoverian is a bowl down pattern, the engravings went on the same side as the hallmarks so that they could all be seen by your dinner guests. It would be impossible to erase those
engravings without leaving even a hint of a trace and still have enough metal to provide the perfect and gently convex surface to the bowl side for your new engravings and the beautifully pronounced convex form to
the terminal backs.
It is said that Old English first appears around 1760. I consider it more accurate to say that Hanoverian pattern falls quickly out of fashion around 1760 and Old English becomes the most popular pattern by a very large margin. We know that Hanoverian pattern came to England with the first Georgian king. Odd now to think that the English people would rather import a German monarchy than let a local Catholic have another go. Old English was around during the dominance of Hanoverian pattern but not in significant numbers and from my experience the earliest examples are serving pieces. I once sold a London 1744, Jeremiah King soup ladle that can still be found on the obvious page. I speculate that if it were not for the Hanoverian influencers then it would have been Old English to take over from the Trefid and Dog Nose of Queen Anne. Some early pieces were made, we know that as they are still with us. We may never know when the first Old English was made as it has likely gone to melt long ago. These spoons must be among the earliest examples still extant. The eight are very clearly same maker and same date. The plus one is not the same maker but certainly of a similar date so other sets existed (interesting side point, the lion passant on the plus one has been squeezed, rolled and almost enclosed by the silversmith's tidy following assay such that if you take a strong lens and peak within you are rewarded with a beautifully detailed and unworn miniature sculpture of the lion, particularly his head). Why still a few examples of Old English when the majority of the country wanted Hanoverian? My answer is contentious and many of you will not believe it possible but I think that a few English people did not like having a European ruler and their new fangled patterns foisted upon them. Those few old-fashioned English people wanted their own English pattern. Now, what would those people call their pattern? |
| SILVERSMITH | 8 x Caleb Hill + 1 probably different |
| DATE or HALLMARK | 8 x 1731 date letter 'Q', one unknown but similar date |
| ASSAY OFFICE | London |
| WEIGHT in GRAMS | 338 |
| LENGTH | 6 ¾", 170mm |
| SILVER STANDARD | ·925 sterling silver |
| CONDITION | excellent, superb, thick silver throughout, hallmarks part rubbed to some, no bowl wear or bumps, not just the finest examples available to humankind but possibly the only extant too |
select any image to enlarge
| SOLD |
| Price £698 |
| item number m9005 |
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