| INDEX | ALL SILVER |
| DESCRIPTION | Exceptionally good antique English Georgian solid sterling silver coffee pot with four straining ring lugs to the inside. These pots usually suffer with thinning to the sides from successive engraving/erasure, worn hinges, broken handles and sockets and impressed bottoms and handle joints simply from robust use. I was strongly attracted to this example because it has none of these issues and the silver is generously thick throughout. The lack of engraving/erasure is particularly unusual from this period. I have a theory that takes on more credibility once you have read the next section. This was made by William for himself or a close family member, hence the extra quality, no engraving and the rare W*:W mark. Thenceforth it became a family heirloom, used only seldom and with the greatest of respect. |
| SILVERSMITH | William Williams, mark part rubbed but readable as Grimwade 3363. Interestingly William was in partnership with Thomas Whipham 1740-46 yet also had his own solo mark from 1742-48 although it is rarely seen. This is the second of the two marks William had registered alone. The consensus of opinion on these arrangements is that the solo marks are reserved for very special commissions. |
| DATE or HALLMARK | 1744 |
| ASSAY OFFICE | London |
| WEIGHT in GRAMS | total 667 |
| HEIGHT inc. finial | 9", 228mm |
| SILVER STANDARD | ·925 silver |
| CONDITION | excellent, no bumps, no repairs, no engraving, no erasure. Exceptionally good although there was one thing that I did not understand. The silver is thick except at the very top rim of the body around the rear seam. Here it looked as if a little filing had been done or the lid had rubbed. This niggled me so I took the pot to a very old and long since retired silversmith. He knew exactly what happened, he always does and I fear for the day when he is no longer with us and all his knowledge gone forever. I want him to write a book but he is almost illiterate and reluctant to do so. Anyway, I digress so back to my point. William had this pot cherry red so that he could solder the rear seam from the bottom up. All the way the pot is cooling and just as he reached to top rim the solder did not take perfectly, now just too cool or an unfortunately positioned spot of oxide. Re-heat the pot and the entire seam is lost so as it was just the edges of the top of the joint that had not bonded perfectly he simply filed them down to the good joint. Interesting story, to me at least, revealed by 1mm of filing and one lifetime of experience. To be clear, not a fault rather an interesting feature. The pot has been recently polished and is clean inside and out although the base beneath the foot is deeply patinated. Pleasingly you can still clearly discern the mark left by the assayer's scrape back in 1744. |
| USA IMPORT TAX | USA resident buyers are now required to pay their US import tax at the time of posting. This tax has been added into the USA postage charge and will not need to be paid again. This applies to US buyers only. |
| UK BUYERS | VAT FREE until the end of this year. This applies to UK buyers only. |
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| Available Now |
| Price £998 |
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