Silver & Silver-plated items

This rare piece of Cork silver of Irish Republican interest sold for £4000 (plus 23% premium) at Sworders latest sale.

Exuding the exuberant confidence of pre-1914 Britain, this 21in (52cm) long silver table centrepiece, below, was a natural target for the London trade at the Anthemion (17.5% buyer’s premium) November 20 sale in Cardiff.

A pair of George III covered serving dishes made in London 1819 by Philip Rundell sold from the stand of Mary Cooke Antiques during the latest edition of the Winter Art & Antiques Fair in Olympia.

Differing echoes of the First World War attracted bidders at Dominic Winter’s (20% buyer’s premium) Cirencester auction in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.

An impressive piece of neoclassical silver gilt with an impressive provenance, this George III trophy was consigned to Gerrards (18% buyer’s premium) by a vendor whose great-grandmother had apparently been given it ‘by royalty’.

In the first decades of the 19th century, watchmakers in many parts of Europe made a living by producing highly ornate watches and gold boxes, many of them for Chinese buyers.

Although the catalogue noted the rarity of a Queen Anne silver tazza and tankard having been together for more than 300 years, they were offered separately at Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne.

The Little collection of early English silver is coming to Christie’s London on December 3. The auction comprises 26 domestic vessels from the Tudor and early Stuart periods that survived the tumult of the Civil War period. Some pieces are considered the last of their type in private hands.

This Irish silver two-handled footed cup will be included in the three-day, multi-discipline sale taking place at Thomaston Place Auction galleries from November 8-10 at Thomaston, Maine.

Dismissed a generation ago as decorative export wares, Qing and later silver is today the focus of lively academic and commercial attention.

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

Albrecht Dürer’s medal dedicated to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, is among the most important medals of the Northern Renaissance. As only four are known to commerce, the appearance of one for sale is significant.

Nottingham auction house Mellors & Kirk (20% buyer’s premium) added to the cautiously feel-good mood created by some highly successful autumn sales in the provinces when strong private buying brought impressive results across the board.

A hardstone inlaid scent bottle, c.1905, by Joseph Cook & Son of Birmingham, is among the wide selection of silver available at the next Marlborough College Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

The catalogue description correctly read ‘Art Nouveau silver powder bowl by Gilbert Marks, hallmark London 1900, weight approx 8.79oz, 273.4gms, decorated with stylised thistles repousse’.

Turbulent as politics are today, they have yet to reach the rumbustious heights of a notorious 1826 by-election in Northumberland, memories of which were revisited at Newcastle auction house Anderson & Garland (20% buyer’s premium).