| INDEX | ALL SILVER |
| DESCRIPTION | Antique Georgian Old Sheffield Plate coffee Biggin with ivory handle and knop and engraved armorial to one side. The coffee biggin was invented in the 1780s by a Mr. Biggin. The idea is that you suspend your ground coffee within a cloth bag from the upper internal flange. Main issue was that the Georgian natural materials used in the bag could impart off flavours to the coffee so the biggin was not in fashion for long. Today biggins are simply used as a pot for coffee or tea. Due to the ivory content this item is available to for UK delivery only. It would be legal to export but I do not know enough about the paperwork required. |
| SILVERSMITH | Matthew Boulton, double suns mark to base |
| DATE or HALLMARK | probably 1780s, early 1800s at latest |
| ASSAY OFFICE | not assayed but made near Birmingham at the Soho manufactory |
| WEIGHT in GRAMS | total 699 |
| HEIGHT inc. finial | 7 ½", 188mm |
| SILVER STANDARD | NO, not solid silver but Old Sheffield Plate. This is where thick sheets of silver are fused to copper. The edges are trimmed with solid silver wire. This is the Georgian aristocratic cousin to modern electroplate. |
| CONDITION | excellent, bump to foot rim, small patch of copper showing above and some plate flake to underside of base |
select any image to enlarge
| SOLD |
| Price £98 |
| item number m8239 |
| Available Coffee Pots |
| email questions to silfren@btinternet.com
telephone 07563 011924 experts available 24 hours every day |