A Fine Pair of Early Victorian By Elkington & Mason Circa
Fully Hallmarked, with assay marks for Birmingham 1844, with cartouches containing the makers marks, Elkington & Mason, and the head of the young Queen Victoria; of campana form rising from pleated serpentine bases, trimmed with pearls; the fluted base with vine leaves, the bodies adorned with naturalistic vine branches and bunches of grapes, the upper rims dressed with draped bunches of grapes and tendrils; the liners bearing identical assay and Hallmarks. Inscribed with a dedication reading ‘Presented to George Barker Esq. FRS, of Birmingham, by Fellow Townsmen and Friends in token of attachment and respect for public services and private worth AD 1844’, coats of arms, and the motto ‘Manners Maketh Man’. Birmingham. Total Silver Weight 292 ounces. George Barker is in the archives as a Fellow of the Royal Society, and waselect secretary for Birmingham from 1841-2.
Elkington & Company George Richard Elkington, born in Birmingham in 1801, joined the family firm, and in the late 1830s opened a large factory for the manufacture of ‘electro-plated wares’ in expectation that his experiments with a revolutionary method of electroplating. In the early 1840’s his experiments with an electrolyte incorporating potassium cyanide succeeded, and the Great Exhibition of 1851 assured his fame and posterity, as he was allowed to make reproductions of the Royal silverware; he opened shops in Glasgow, 380Birmingham, Liverpool, and initially in Cheapside London, and extended to premises in Regent Street. Elkington worked in silver as well as electroplate, and exhibited at every International Exhibition between 1851 and 1900.
DIMENSIONS:
116
REFERENCE:
H:
13 in
32 cm
W:
10 in
25 cm
D:
8.5 in
21 cm
8380