My Family Silver

a George III silver teapot, maker’s mark of Hester Bateman, London, 1783,
assembled in the manner of a kit from sheet silver, with applied mechanically milled beaded borders,
sold at Christie’s, London, 7 March 1990, lot 130
(photo: courtesy of Christie’s, London)

When in 1959 David S. Shure published his monograph on Hester Bateman, its subtitle was Queen of English Silversmiths. The author gave the impression of a craftswoman adept at all the skills of a  working silversmith. Indeed, one of his readers was afterwards very shocked to be told that Mrs Bateman may never actually have worked at the bench. It was her sons, Peter (1740-1825) and Jonathan (1747-1791), both trained silversmiths, who seem to have run the business. Under them Bateman’s became one of London’s busiest silver workshops. In addition to making a wide range of domestic and decorative items, they were also silver flatters: suppliers of sheet silver for use by other workshops. By 1802 their old horse-powered flatting mill had been replaced by a steam engine.

Behind latter-day myths spun around 18th Century London silver trade characters like Hester Bateman lies the reality of a highly competitive industry, ready to embrace new ideas and techniques. The notion that silversmiths invariably prepared their own sheet metal preparatory to raising hollowware, for instance, is dispelled when we find that there were several specialist silver flatters working from the 1730s and ’40s.

Other mechanical aids were also evident at this time, like the Clerkenwell stamping press advertised in 1765, ‘Where all Sorts of Toys and Trinkets are made in Gold, Silver, and Metal Gilt.’ And when Ebenezer Coker, the salver maker, announced his retirement (1774), he offered for sale ‘a large Collection of Metal Stamps for Waiters.’

detail of the back of a silver tablespoon bowl, die-stamped with a galleon,
maker’s mark of (?) William Cripps, London, 1758, sold at Bonhams, London, 24 Mar 2005, lot 191
(photo: courtesy of Bonhams, London)

• Several items from Ebenezer Coker’s workshop are currently featured on myfamilysilver.com, as are various items from the Bateman factory.

a Victorian silver table snuff box in the form of a mess tent, Joseph Angell, London, 1850, presented to Major Loftus Francis Jones on his retirement from the 96th Regiment of Foot. The gilt interior of this unique object is engraved with an inscription, recording the fact that Jones (d. 1853) had been with the regiment since its formation in 1824. (photo by courtesy of Sotheby’s, London, 5 March 1970, lot 89)

Recently someone asked me if I had a favourite among the many silversmiths whose work I had  examined over the years. My head spun at such a question! Few apart from my colleagues in the field have been so fortunate to handle so much, although even a casual museum visitor cannot fail to acknowledge the glorious legacy we have from silversmiths’ endeavours, past and present.

My answer to that question depends on so many factors, not least the latest fascinating piece I have been researching or cataloguing, in which case Paul de Lamerie springs to mind. Then again, certain silversmiths were specialists, like Thomas Pitts whose workshop was known for its epergnes, or Ebenezer Coker and the Cafes for candlesticks.

Under torture, I might have to admit that a favourite is the Angell family business of silversmiths which flourished in London throughout the 19th Century, particularly that of Joseph Angell (1816-1891) whose stock, some of which was enamelled, attracted so much attention at the Great Exhibition of 1851. An unusual example of the Angells’ silver, a special order, was a table snuff box in the form of a mess tent made for presentation by his brother officers to Major Loftus Francis Jones on his retirement from the 96th Regiment of Foot. Detachments of the latter having been deployed for convict ships heading for the Antipodes, The Courier, a Tasmanian newspaper, reported in February 1851 on Major Jones’s box, telling its readers that it was ‘elegantly wrought in frosted silver.’

• Various snuff boxes are currently listed on myfamilysilver.com, as well as other interesting items from Paul de Lamerie, Ebenezer Coker and William Cafe, and the Angells