Victorian Heart-Shaped Christening Set, 1880
You must be a subscriber, and be logged in to view price and dealer details.
Subscribe Now to view actual auction price for this item
When you subscribe, you have the option of setting the currency in which to display prices to $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.
- Sterling Silver - Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of another metal, usually copper. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is relatively soft and the addition of the very small amount of copper gives the metal enough strength and hardness to be worked into jewellery, decorative and household objects.
- Hallmarks - A mark stamped on articles of precious metals in Britain, since the 14th century, certifying their purity. It derives its name from the Guild Hall of the Goldsmiths' Company, who recieved its Charter in 1327 giving it the power to assay (test the purity) and mark articles of gold and silver.
The hallmark will consist of several marks, including the:
- silver standard mark, indicating the purity of the metal. Sterling silver is .925 pure silver.
- the city mark indicating the city in which it was assayed eg London, Birmingham, York etc.
- the date mark, usually a letter of the alphabet in a particular font and case,
- a duty mark, indicating whether duty had been paid to the crown, and only in use from 1784 to 1890
The piece may include an additional mark, the maker's mark, although not forming part of the hallmark, will be located in the vicinity of the hallmarks.
Sometimes silver plated items will bear faux hallmarks, often confusing those not familiar with silver markings. - Marrow Spoon - A spoon with a long handle and a narrow scoop shaped bowl, used to scoop and eat marrow from the hollow centre of roasted bones. Some marrow scoops are double ended with a different shaped bowl at each end.
- Palmette - A decorative motif used in the decoration of ceramics, textiles and furniture, based loosely on the palm leaf and sometimes used with the anthemion, from which it is often difficult to distinguish. The form of the palmette varies from ornate to simplistic.
- Victorian Period - The Victorian period of furniture and decorative arts design covers the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. There was not one dominant style of furniture in the Victorian period. Designers used and modified many historical styles such as Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, Neoclassical and others, although use of some styles, such as English Rococo and Gothic tended to dominate the furniture manufacture of the period.
The Victorian period was preceded by the Regency and William IV periods, and followed by the Edwardian period, named for Edward VII (1841 ? 1910) who was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India for the brief period from 1901 until his death in 1910.
This item has been included into following indexes:
Visually similar items
A fine group of eighteen Continental silver spoons, 19th century, the spoons all with conforming shaped handles and lobed finials, all bright cut and prick worked, some with foliate and floral designs, others similar but with diamond patterns; hallmarked t
A 19th century Scottish provincial silver mustard spoon, fiddle pattern, initialled; Alexander McLeod, Inverness c.1820.
Rare Australian silver Alexander Dick silver spoon and fork, c.1827, in fiddle and shell pattern, with engraved initials F.M.G possibly Frederick Garling (solicitor 1775-1848), impressed marks, length 22 cm (spoon), 20.5 cm (fork), total weight 150gm, (2)
A Thirty piece Soviet Russian 875 silver cutlery set, after 1958, Kiev, with unidentified maker's mark, comprising twelve dessert spoons, twelve knives and six forks all with foliate designs and geometric patterns to the finials and throats; hallmarked wit