Special Features
The process of making hand hammered die stamped silver
places some limitations upon the intricacy of the
design. The Kings pattern is about as ornate as one
could find in the early 19th century. It has been such
a lasting pattern that it has produced in some form by
virtually every major American manufacturer and is
still being produced today by Tiffany in English King .
The pieces below date between 1833 and 1844 from
London, but because of the lasting quality of hand
wrought silver, the tines are perfect and the general
appearance is almost as new.
A time saving process for manufacturing silver
flatware, very similar indeed to modern production, was
introduced in England as early as 1785. A complete
comparison of the processes is in Pickford (1). When a
spoon or fork is stamped on a machine there are no
repeated hammerings and annealings to harden the metal.
The piece is also of uniform thickness while the hand
made piece can be made thicker at critical places of
wear such as the front edge of a spoon. Thus the hand
made piece will be much more durable. A 200 year old
hand made service will often be found in better
condition than a 50 year old one made by machine. The
machine made process did not gain much acceptance until
about 1840 in Sheffield while London continued as the
center for hand made. Therefore a pre 1850 London piece
such as this group is almost surely hand wrought.
At 4 oz the dinner fork is a joy to hold and behold.
The elements of this setting cost us between $40 and
$100 each commensurate with todays better production
line silver. . Current hand hammered silver of this
quality sells new for $1000-$1500 per place setting
(ONC, Bucellatti). Thus the collector is paying no
premium for a beautiful 150 year old antique of the
highest quality. Note that the pieces of the place
setting are virtually the same as 100 years earlier,
the teaspoon has just gotten larger.
Dating
The dating of English Silver is a joy to collectors and
is documented in several references including Wyler
(6).
 |
Going from top to bottom we
begin with makers mark JS over AS. To precisely
identify the maker it will be necessary to know
the period made. Next is the Lion passant which
has been the symbol for British Sterling since
about 1720. Second down is the Leopard's head
symbolizing London. Other symbols might indicate
Exeter, Sheffield, York, Norwich or Newcastle.
Some collect by town. The gothic looking letter
is next which , in concert with the young Queens
head , will define the date within two years.
While one might not guess this from scratch in a
small image, comparison with the book will show
is as an "H" which gives us 1843-44. In this
period a JS/AS would mean Joseph and Alber Savory
is the maker. What more would we want to know
about a 150 year old collectible?
|
Pieces Available
| |
Size
|
My Cost
|
Notes
|
| Teaspoon |
5 5/8" |
$37.50 |
|
| Dessert Spoon |
7" |
$55.00 |
|
| Tablespoon |
8 1/2" |
$65.00 |
|
| Dinner Fork |
8 1/4" |
$56.00 |
|
| Dessert Fork |
6 1/2" |
$40.00 |
|
| Knife |
9 3/4" |
$100.00 |
|
|
click on image to enlarge
|
| Note: |
Note that in Victorian English
there is no knife of the pattern and one would
buy these to taste. My favorite style is pistol
grip. The "V R" on the blade indicates Victoria
Regina which places the knife in the proper
period.
That's all there is. One should note that in this
period the handles of the spoons are turned down
while the handles of the forks are turned up.
This allows the bowls of the spoons to be placed
on the table pointed down while the tips of the
forks are pointed up. In the 18th century all
handles were tipped up.
|
Key Pieces
All pieces are readily available. A
good period knife is probably the most difficult.
Comments
You can see slight pattern
differences from maker to maker. A purist might try for
a closer match If I sound partial toward English, I am.
You can't beat it for age, quality and precise
identifiability and all at a bargain price. An ideal
collectible.
|
