Silver & Silver-plated items

A selection of stand-out auction results for silver in recent sales.

A selection of silver lots coming up in the salerooms.

It was decades after the First Fleet landed in Sydney cove in 1788 before anything like a recognisable silver trade developed in Australia, writes Jolyon Warwick James.

Jeffrey Lassaline has joined Tennants as silver and objects of vertu specialist.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Michael Wilson of Highland Antiques in Aberdeen specialises in rare and collectable antique silver.

Wick Antiques has on offer a monumental silver-gilt cup and cover presented to Ralph Fletcher (1757-1832), who is remembered for his actions during the ‘Peterloo Massacre’.

Our weekly selection from salerooms.

Metalware in all its forms played a major part in the development of the Bauhaus and recent sales contained examples in every price range.

An exceptional example of Thai silversmithing has sold for £13,500 (plus 17.5% buyer’s premium) in Leicestershire.

An unusual entry to the latest Silver & Objects of Vertu sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury was this 5in (13cm) silver and mixed metal tea caddy by Tiffany & Co.

Combining fine 18th and 19th work by major silversmiths with rarities of scholarly interest, the comprehensively catalogued silver sale at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) appealed to specialists across the market spectrum.

The origin of ‘Tudor’ globe pomanders is still under discussion. It is generally thought that most originate from northern Europe but were probably made by itinerant craftsmen in a number of countries.

This silver tennis bangle, below, triggered a classic singles match at auction.

MADAM – Having made a few appearances in ATG recently, a small silver pepper pot in the form of a Suffragette was eventually auctioned in London at an extraordinary hammer price of £3200 against an estimate of £800-900 [see picture below].

A set of three George II silver tea caddies by the famed English silversmith Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751) was one of the stand-out sales in the opening days of 'Masterpiece London'.

More of a curiosity than a clock but a decorator’s dream, a life-size caricature of a smiling Chinese man clutching a willow-pattern plate with gilt dragon hands emerged in the Ayr rooms of Thomas R Callan (17.5% buyer’s premium).