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DESCRIPTION Queen Anne Britannia standard silver caster with a bayonet fitting top and engraved armorial. The beautifully pierced and engraved top must have been a generous dispenser as a later silver blank has been fitted up to the top with only the upper two bands pierced so that now the wide lower band of piercing is only decorative. The hallmarks in my last image read from left to right; maker, Britannia, lion's head erased, date.
SILVERSMITH Charles Adam, a specialist caster maker apprenticed to the specialist caster maker Francis Archbold in 1682 and who later went to train the specialist caster maker Thomas Bamford from 1703. Charles was 41 years old when he made this caster. The mark is part rubbed with the lower central section of the AD in a shaped punch outline clearest in my images below. During the period of Britannia standard makers used the first two letters of their surname
DATE or HALLMARK 1708
ASSAY OFFICE London
WEIGHT in GRAMS 169
HEIGHT in INCHES 6 ¼
SILVER STANDARD .9584 Britannia standard silver
OVERALL CONDITION solder visible in top band of piercing from the fitting of the blank liner and probable repair work done at the same time, otherwise an excellent example in surprisingly original condition with no thin spots. The mantling (fancy bit around the crest) dates from 1740-50 as it is quite rococo and the central section has been erased and crest engraved a little later.

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back £500 sold item number: m5128