Silver & Silver-plated items

Christopher Dresser created a number of daring geometric designs for silver and silver-plated toast racks in the late 1870s and early 1880s, both for Hukin & Heath and for James Dixon & Son.

Brass and steel ‘combination’ or ‘puzzle’ boxes enjoyed a vogue in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Eight frost fairs were held on the Thames between 1607-1814, taking advantage of the firm ice that formed on the river as it flowed slowly in the shallows near the old London Bridge.

New online databases for extensive archive material of two core disciplines in the antiques trade have been launched.

Pook & Pook will hold a wide-ranging Americana and International auction on January 13-14 in Downington, Pennsylvania.

Further lots from ancient country seat star alongside a stellar specialist collection.

National Museums Scotland has acquired a trio of exceptionally rare Scottish silver objects created in the 1600s from the collection of Edinburgh jeweller Ron (1946-2012) and Rosemary Haggarty.

This late 18th century Channel Islands silver coffee pot has marks for the Jersey silversmith Jacques Quesnel I.

A suffragette’s true identity may have been uncovered by an auction house.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

The windmill cup was the most popular of the novelty silver wager cups produced from the late 16th century until the early 18th century.

When Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 (which had given religious freedom to French protestants), a flood of Huguenot refugees travelled across Europe to places where they could practise their religion in safety.

A collection of silver assembled over half a century by a Brussels general practitioner with a passion for 18th century French silver is to be offered for sale by Dupont & Associés, Morlaix Enchères, at Drouot in Paris on December 6.

As very personal items, typically weighing little more than an ounce of bullion, the most numerous silver survivors from the 17th century are spoons.

This Charles II silver mounted coconut cup is particularly rare on account of its marks for the Hull silversmith Edward Mangie (1634-85).

This pair of William III silver candlesticks came for sale at Potteries Auctions (20% buyer’s premium).

Given their relatively small metal content, many silver-mounted ‘tigerware’ beer jugs survived the great bullion melting of the English Civil War, making them perhaps the most recognised example of late 16th century silver today.

Most angles on the collecting spectrum were covered in Bamfords’ (24.75% buyer’s premium) three-day autumnal catalogue.

Many sales in late November and early December are assembled with presents in mind and silver and jewellery are much to the fore.