Colonial Australian Silver Christening Mug by Alexander Dick, c. 1835
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Alexander Dick Colonial Australian silver christening mug, with engraved circular banding to the body, a round barbed handle, sitting on a collet foot base, with engraved monogram 'E.C.', circa 1835, stamped 'A.D.', 8.5 cm high, 222 grams. Provenance: Lawsons, Australian history, fine decorative Arts & jewellery, Sydney, February 2016, lot 8. Alexander Dick (1799 - 1843) arrived in Australia aboard the 'Portland' in November 1824. He was a free settler and by April 1826 he was advertising his own business at 104 Pitt Street, Sydney. A highly important early Colonial silversmith, Dick's colourful career is well described in 'Early Australian silver : the Houstone Collection' by J.M. Houstone [Sydney, Halstead press, 2007] at pp.56-67, including illustrations of two mugs, very similar to the present piece.
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- 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.
- Important - Important is a word used in the antique trade to indicate an object should be ranked above other similar objects, and is therefore more valuable.
The object could be considered important because it is by a famous designer or maker, has been shown at a major exhibition, is of exquisite workmanship, is rare or is a "one-off", was made for an important patron, and so on.
Even further up the pecking order are objects that are described in catalogue descriptions as highly important or extraordinarily important. - Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
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