The canteen of rat-tail pattern cutlery for 12, some pieces shown right had been originally fashioned by Omar Ramsden in 1912 for a Miss Downes-Butcher (hence the initials D-B on the dessert spoons). This could have been the start of a love affair between the silversmith and his client, for the two married in the 1920s and Ramsden continued to add to the family service up until his death in 1939. After the war his widow sold the 336oz service, housed in an oak dwarf cabinet, to Herbert Lingford, brother-in-law of the vendor’s father. Ramsden flatware is rare enough, and this service by the cult Arts and Crafts designer was complete with fish knives and fruit knives. It was contested to a double-estimate £52,000 and acquired by C & L Burman of Vigo Street, London. The dealers also bid £1600 for a set of 12 jam spoons by Ramsden with shovel bowls and twisted square ends.
Ramsden’s loving spoonful
THE best seller at Tennants’ sale on November 22-23 in the Yorkshire Dales was consigned by a Yorkshire family with connections to the famous silversmith who made it.
