Irish Silver in San Antonio, Texas

What better way to celebrate my birthday than to take a trip to the San Antonio Museum of Art to view its fantastic collection of Irish silver?  Guess what I didn't do?  Take photographs of the silver.  I'd like to attribute this omission to the fact that I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and rarity of the silver before me, but perhaps it has more to do with old age...

There were several pieces that especially caught my attention on this visit: the little cream jug by William Clarke of Cork circa 1725; the slip top spoon of 1655/56 engraved with the arms of the Stephens family of County Waterford; the covered sugar bowl by Peter Racine of 1736/37 that is just three inches tall; the pair of small tankards by Thomas Walker circa 1730, which sit on flat non-footed bases (I don't recall seeing a tankard without a foot); the two pairs of salts by John Hamilton circa 1730, which look like four small footed bowls instead of the more prevalent trencher type; the herb pot by Thomas Walker circa 1735, which is just exquisite in its smallness, with its tiny wooden handle and finial (you can have your very own one of these, as Weldon's has one for sale); and the four horseshoes given as racing prizes made by James Le Bas in1843.

One piece of silver in the collection, a flask by Thomas Walker circa 1740, is engraved with an inscription of "The Gift of / Will.m Jocelyn Shaw Esq.r / To / Gorges Lowther Esq.r."  This piece is of especial interest because I have a silver box presented by the Dublin Corporation of Weavers to Gorges Lowther.  You can read more about this box in an earlier posting here.  Not knowing any better, I can only assume that the flask and the box were presented to the same Gorges Lowther, Esq.  Another surprise was seeing a presentation box in the museum with the same arms engraved on the lid as on mine.  The museum's box was presented by the Corporation of Sheermen and Dyers (which must have been a subsidiary of the Corporation of Weavers, since it used the same arms) to Luke Gardiner.  The box is also by James Kennedy, and dates to circa 1775.  The style of the engraving on the museum's box is very much the same as that on mine.

In a previous post, I discussed a pair of Irish octofoil salvers separated at birth, one of which is in the San Antonio Museum of Art collection.  The other is with a private dealer and is listed as being unmarked.  After viewing the salver in the museum, however, it seems likelier that the salver with the dealer was marked, but that the hallmarks have worn away.  I posit this because of the three marks present on the museum salver, only John Hamilton's maker's mark of "IH" is discernible, and even then this mark is worn and the crown surmounting the initials is completely worn away.  One can see that there are two other marks present (the harp crowned and the date letter), but these are likewise extremely worn.  So, it is possible that the salver with the dealer was not originally an unmarked piece.

Seeing so many stunning and unique objects of silver in one place is almost overwhelming, in a very good way.  I didn't know where to look first.  Thank goodness my husband and I were the only ones in the gallery, as I just kept up a running commentary about the pieces and how wonderful they were, and how the engraving on a piece seemed to be later than the date of manufacture, and how I wished I owned this piece or that, etc., etc.  I often complain that Texas is devoid of good silver shops (there was a good one in Salado - they had a lovely Lamerie tankard - but they closed down due to the owners' health issues; the owners said that years ago, they had decided to purchase silver as an investment and that selling their collection over time had supported them financially), but how lucky Texans are to have such a world-class collection of Irish silver in their state.  And it's all thanks to Mr. John V. Rowan, Jr., who amassed these lovely pieces and donated them to be displayed at the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Irish Silver Rattail Spoon

Every once in a while, eBay searches do turn up some interesting silver spoons.  This is one of them, an Irish rattail tablespoon dated 1723:

Irish rattail spoon, Dublin, 1723

Close-up of crest and hallmarks.  Maker's mark I?

The spoon is actually a bit ugly.  If you look at the first photograph, you can see that the spoon bowl is not symmetrical.  The right side of the bowl extends much further past the stem than the left, which is more obvious in the photograph depicting the reverse of the spoon.  The central rib on the front of the spoon is deeper than that on its English counterparts, as is usual on Irish spoons.  From what I have observed, Irish tablespoons of this period are nine times out of ten longer than English spoons.  This one measures 8 1/4 inches in length.  The weight is fine, being 69 grams, and the crest is interesting, appearing to be a dragon or a griffin out of a mural coronet.  I haven't been able to attribute the crest to a particular family.  The maker's mark could be "IT" in a heart for Joseph Teafe, although, in Collecting Irish Silver, Douglas Bennett says that Teafe "made a large quantity of spoons from 1725 to 1748" (154).  Mr. Bennett does not state when Joseph Teafe was made a freeman of the Goldsmith's Company, and since this spoon dates to 1723, it is possible that Teafe was making spoons prior to 1725.

The seller on eBay listed this spoon as dating to 1767.  While Irish tablespoons from this period aren't super-rare, there certainly aren't as many of them on the market as English spoons of the same date, so I was happy I decided to click on the listing and found that the spoon was much earlier.  I once bought a silver cream jug from eBay which was advertised as being Irish and free from any damage or repairs.  I couldn't quite make out the date letter or the maker's mark, which should have been a clue, but I decided I had to have it in hand to make up my mind.  The seller did advertise a return policy, so I bought it.  Upon receipt, it was very obvious that there had been a repair to the spout.  I was also not convinced that the hallmarks were quite right.  I contacted the seller right away, and he agreed to a full refund of the purchase price and the shipping costs I had initially paid based on the fact the piece was not as advertised.  There are pitfalls to buying on eBay, so caveat emptor, but there is some good stuff and some great sellers out there, too and so it should not be discounted or forgotten about as a source of items for one's collection.

Sources:
Bennett, Douglas. Collecting Irish Silver. London: Souvenir Press Ltd., 1984. Print.

Rattail Length on Early Hanoverian Spoons

Okay, ladies and gents, brace yourselves for a riveting posting on...rattail length.  This is not an in-depth study, but rather a comparison of the rattail lengths on the tablespoons in my collection.  The idea for this posting came about this morning as I was looking at a spoon I had just received in the mail (more about this new spoon later) and while looking at the back of the bowl, I began to think about rattail length, which prompted me to look at the rattails on my other spoons.  Following are photographs of the various rattails:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

The spoon on the left in Figure 1 has the longest rattail, and I picture it again on the left in Figure 4 alongside spoons with the least amount of rattail remaining.  These spoons are all Britannia-standard (save the one on the right in Figure 4, which is an Irish example), and date from circa 1705 (the only dognose example) to 1718.  The Irish spoon dates to 1723.

At one point, did all my spoons have rattails as long as the super-long rattail, the termini ("terminuses" sounds odd to me, but I probably couldn't use "termini" in a conversation and keep a straight face, either) of which have worn away over time?  Having said that, the rattails of the spoons on the left and in the center of Figure 3 do appear to be complete, although not nearly as long as the super-long rattail.  From the photographs, one can see that the rattails are in various states of completeness, and in some cases, I can feel rather than see that the rattail continues. 

For someone who loves rattail spoons, I feel rather silly confessing that I don't quite know how the rattail part was made, meaning, was the rattail shaped and fashioned by hand, or was there some sort of casting process for the rattail?  If any of you can shed light on this, it would be much appreciated!

My First Trefid and a Ramble About Teaspoons

Three teaspoons came in the mail for me Friday, and here they are, fresh out of their packaging:

Left to right: Britannia standard rattail teaspoon, maker's mark HI (more about that below), London; rattail teaspoon, Jeremiah Lee, London; trefid teaspoon, John Clifton, London

Close ups of engravings and hallmarks

The trefid teaspoon is my first 17th century spoon, and I have to say, I like it.  The little teaspoon has a nice weight and feel to and the reeded rattail is a nice detail.  I also like the flat stem.  When seen next to the other teaspoons I have, it really does have a more primitive - but charming - look.  The spoon measures 10.5 cm in length and the maker appears to be John Clifton.   You can see a sweet set of engraved spoons and forks by John Clifton for sale by Peter Cameron here.  Fully-marked early teaspoons are very rare, and one by John Clifton was sold in 2010 by Woolley and Wallis. 

The two Hanoverian rattail teaspoons are fantastic.  I am a big fan of coats of arms on flatware, and didn't yet have a teaspoon so engraved, so was happy to see this one show up in the most recent Finial auction.  I believe the coat of arms belongs to the Dalton family (Burke, 522-523).  It is marked with the lion's head erased and a maker's mark of HI.  A quick search of Jackson's Silver & Gold Marks turns up three contenders for the maker: Edmund Hickman (169), William Hinton (161), and Samuel Hitchcock (164).  Without seeing the shape of the punch, it is too difficult to make a firm attribution.  This teaspoon measures 12.2 cm.

The teaspoon with the engraved cypher is also a Finial find.  This spoon is by Jeremiah Lee and measures 11.8 cm.  The teaspoon was dated to circa 1740, so I can only assume that, since the rattail had given way to the drop by this point, the teaspoon might have been made to match a set of existing older rattail teaspoons.  Baffling and frustrating, cyphers are nonetheless intriguing.  My best guess is that the letters on this teaspoon are "I/J V."  Of course, I could be completely wrong.

Here is a photograph of the teaspoons in my collection:

To state the obvious, the teaspoon on the left is clearly the longest, with the next three being roughly the same size, followed by the two smallest on the far right  The ratio of bowl length to overall spoon length of the second spoon from the left is the largest out the teaspoons.  Excluding the trefid teaspoon, the shape of the Hanoverian terminals on the spoons is the same, except for the spoon located third from the right, which has a more squared off terminal.  Dare I say that early teaspoons are like snow flakes: no two are alike?

Michael Clayton, in the "Queen Anne and George I" section of his Christie's Pictorial History of English and American Silver (102) notes, while discussing the appearance of the teaspoon, that "[i]n Scotland spoons were numbered so that the lady of the house could return the correct cup and saucer to its owner on refilling."  What a neat system.  Schredds sold a set of numbered dognose teaspoons, which are attributed to Joseph Barbut of London.  Were the owners of these teaspoons Scottish?  Or did the English also sometimes number their teaspoons?

Sources:
Burke, John Esq.. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry; or Commoners of Great Britain 
       and Ireland, etc. Vol I. London: Henry Colburn, 1837: 522-523. Google Books. Web. 3 Feb 2014.
Clayton, Michael. Christie's Pictorial History of English and American Silver.
       Oxford: Phaidon Christie's Limited, 1985. Print.
Pickford, Ian, ed. Jackson's Silver & Gold Marks of England, Scotland & Ireland. 3rd ed., 1989. Woodbridge: 
       The Antique Collectors' Club, Ltd., 2011. Print.