posted 03-21-2006 08:24 AM            

I thought I would share with all you fellow collectors. On moving house six years ago my parents presented this family tea pot to us as a house warming gift. This started my interest in silver, specifically tableware. The teapot is dated 1859 and was made by Henry Holland (London). It was given to my paternal great,great great grandmother by her husband with the inscription. "Presented to Isabella Blyth by her husband to commemorate their fortieth year of married happiness.A token of his love & appreciation of her excellent qualities as a wife and mother. One can almost see a Dickensian parlor scene.

One of the most surprising things is that I never even knew my parents had this, I cannot understand why anyone would not want to display such a lovely item.

Any comments?

posted 03-21-2006 12:51 PM            

It is sometimes difficult to characterize Victorian silver, as a variety of designs were often drawn upon in the creation of pieces. I would think that the style of your heirloom teapot would be fall under the broad umbrella of Rococo Revival. The Rococo was a style of ornamentation popular in the latter 18th Century, and characterized by more or less elaborately chased and/or engraved designs, especially featuring scrolled cartouches within which family crests, arms, or initials were engraved. Older plain pieces were often redecorated with Rococo designs in Victorian times when the style reemerged. The Victorian practice was often overdone by some designers to a point that some people have described as excessive. Whether or not the decoration of an individual Revival piece would be considered excessive depends, of course, on one's taste -- a lot of the gaudier pieces were sold, and so must have been quite popular at the time.