This 4oz, 13in (33cm) long Hanoverian rat-tail pattern basting spoon (above) is struck EG for Edward Gillet and twice with the town mark (see detail).
Gillet, a freeman of the town by 1711, was an important figure in Youghal’s mercantile activity and he was mayor in 1721 around the time this spoon was made. His son John also worked as a goldsmith in the town later in the century.
This spoon was the earliest piece of Irish silver sold at Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) since a Charles II trefid spoon took £7500 in the Salisbury rooms in 2006. It is probably the rarest. Pitched at £6000- 8000 at W&W’s October 29 sale, it sold at £15,000.
London Limerick
Salver made by Edward Cornock (London, 1727) for a Limerick family of landed gentry - £4000 at John Nicholson's.
An item of similar date with a Limerick connection was this quatrefoil-shaped salver made by Edward Cornock (London, 1727) for a Limerick family of landed gentry. The 12½in (32cm) diameter salver weighing 28oz sold at Fernhurst, Surrey, saleroom John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium) on December 7 at the lower £4000 estimate.
