Victorian Sterling Silver Tea and Coffee Service

• Acanthus - A stylized leaf motif, one of the primary decorative elements of classical Greek and Roman architecture, derived from the genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Mediterranean area. It is a common element in classical Greek and Roman design, and is often seen in Corinthian and Composite order columns and used as a decorative element in English, European and Australian furniture, particularly on the curve of a leg, and as decoration for a corbel.
• 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.
• 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.
• Engraving - The method of decorating or creating inscriptions on silver and other metal objects by marking the surface with a sharp instrument such as a diamond point or rotating cutting wheel.
• Assay / Assayed - Assaying is the testing of a metal, most commonly silver and gold to determine its ingredients and quality. In Britain, once an item of silver or gold has been assayed, a mark is stamped on it, certifying its purity. Known as hallmark, it derives its name from the Guild Hall of the Goldsmiths' Company, who recieved its Charter in 1327 giving it the power to assay and mark articles of gold and silver.
• Finial - An architectural decoration, found on the upper parts of of an object. On furniture they are usually found on pediments, canopies and shelf supports. On smaller ceramic or silver items, such as spoons, they may decorate the top of the item itself, or the lid or cover where they provide a useful handle for removal.
  
  Finials have a variety of shapes and forms. They may be urn-shaped, baluster shaped round or spiral, but usually taper into an upper point. Many real life shapes may also be used as finials, such as pineapples, berries, pinecones, buds, lotus and acorns. Sometimes animals such as a lion are depicted, or fish and dolphins.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• coffee sets/services - silver items 444
• tea sets/services - silver, Victorian 328