Sometimes you need to spend 15 minutes expounding on the beauty of a flared foot on an early Scottish silver mug. Sometimes you simply need to clutch a Paul de Lamerie dinner plate to your chest as you look at the dealer's other silver. Sometimes you just need to listen to someone talk about their collecting passion even though it may not be your own. And sometimes, you need to try on a 4-carat Van Cleef and Arpels diamond ring. I got to do all of these things and more at the Theta Charity Antiques show in Houston yesterday.
The early Scottish mug was at Shrubsole. After having looked at items on their website and in their catalogues for so long, it was a whole new experience getting to see them in the flesh. Benjamin Miller, Director of Research at Shrubsole, was a lot of fun and indulged my need to hold and discuss several pieces of silver with great enthusiasm. At one point, he put a ginormous square salver by Paul de Lamerie in my hands which could easily replace dumbells for a bicep workout. Poor man had a lot of polishing to do after I left. I was excited to also meet Tim Martin, who was just as personable in person as he is in his emails. One day soon I will have to visit their shop in New York for more silver fondling and discussion.
I found the Paul de Lamerie dinner plate at a dealer previously unknown to me, The Silver Vault out of Woodstock, Illinois. The shop does not have a web presence, so I cannot point you to a website. I quickly saw that Peter Tinkler, one of the owners, shared my enthusiasm and passion for good, old, plain silver and we spent quite a while talking. Peter's father Rod was also on hand to discuss, among other topics, his thoughts on feminine versus masculine silver and training chickens by whistling, and calling him an absolutely delightful man would be scant praise indeed. I don't know the last time - if ever - that I have laughed so much when talking about silver. The dinner plate was made in 1725 and is number 20 in a large set made by de Lamerie for Benjamin Mildmay when he was 19th Baron Fitzwalter. Mildmay was created Earl Fitzwalter in 1730, and two previous posts of mine - here and here - discuss the inventory of his plate taken in 1739 and work de Lamerie did for him. The Clark Art Institute has a set of twelve plates by de Lamerie of 1725 from the same set as the Silver Vault plate. The Fitzwalter plate inventory contains the following entry, and one assumes it must include the 1725 dinner plates:
Paul de Lamerie's work ledgers for Mildmay contain an entry for "To 12 Dishes & 3 Dozen of plates" with entries for the fashioning and engraving of same. Although the work on the page containing these entries is not dated, the first date on the following page is December 5, 1727, so we can assume the three dozen plates were made prior to this date. The highest plate number in the Clark Art Institute collection is No. 33, so it is likely these plates and the Silver Vault plate are part of the "3 Dozen of plates" listed in de Lamerie's ledger:
I also had the pleasure of meeting Mary Wise of Grosvenor Antiques, a dealer in antique porcelain. Although I am not a collector of early English porcelain, I could appreciate the beautiful pieces she had and it was fun to see forms that I am familiar with in silver. Mary truly has a passion for early porcelain, and her knowledge of her preferred subject was inspiring.
Then, drawn in by the amiability and invitation of dealers Steven Fearnley and David McKeone of J.S. Fearnley to try on jewellery for fun, I tried on a gorgeous cushion-cut diamond ring, an old stone in a newer setting by Van Cleef and Arpels. And it fit. Again, Steven was so willing to talk with us and tell us about his pieces.
We had heard about the show from wonderful local dealers of antique jewellery, Bell and Bird, and when we received unsolicited tickets in the mail from Tim Martin, that clinched it. To meet, talk with, bounce ideas off others who share a passion for antiques is so invigorating, and when it's your area of collecting, so much the better. Every dealer we spoke with was enthusiastic and genuinely happy to share their knowledge with us. Thank you to the dealers at the Theta Charity Antiques Show for a wonderful time.
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