DESCRIPTION |
Set of four hefty Queen Anne Britannia standard silver Hanoverian with rat tail pattern table spoons, monogram engraved. The monograms look later 18th century or early 19th century and so I would expect erasures but I can see no evidence of erasures whatsoever. |
| SILVERSMITH |
Henry Greene. Not all the maker's mark are complete but I am certain that they are all the same. In 1685 Louis XIV of France had revoked the Edict of Nantes leaving the Huguenot silversmiths the alternative of conforming or emigrating. A considerable number of Huguenot silversmiths arrived in England where a government wedded to the cause of Protestantism was bound to protect them. It was not long before the English silversmiths discovered that the Huguenots were serious rivals and were seeking to have their activities restricted. A very frank petition in 1711 to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths signed by some quite well known London silversmiths, including Henry Greene, states 'That by the admission of necessitous strangers whose desperate fortunes obliged them to work at miserable rates, the representing members have been forced to bestow much more time and labour in working up their plate than hath been the practice in former times, when prices of workmanship were much greater'. |
| DATE or HALLMARK |
1711 |
ASSAY OFFICE |
London |
WEIGHT in GRAMS |
295 |
| SIZE in INCHES |
length: 8 1/8 |
SILVER STANDARD |
.9584 Britannia |
OVERALL CONDITION |
Extraordinarily good considering their age. I can see no evidence of repairs or bowl reworking and so these spoons are in their original state. Two stems have the tiniest of knocks to an edge near the terminals. Two bowls have very small bumps. |
FAULTS |
some light bowl tip wear resulting in a slight upturn of the bowl tip in two instances, one tip being thinner than the others but none could be described as thin. |
| BACK | Price £450 | SOLD | Item Number: M3282 |
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