BRITISH SILVERSMITH DYNASTIES

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17 April 2009

A Selling Exhibition of Silver 1750-1950 from the family workshops of Bateman, Elkington and James Dixon & Sons

The London Silver Vaults will showcase the works of three great British silversmith dynasties, spanning over two hundred years. Hester Bateman’s family in 18th century London built a reputation for high quality, classic Georgian design and is one of the few silversmiths run by a woman. The Elkingtons in the Victorian era owed their success to the patenting of electroplating, which revolutionised the way silver plate was made, and opened up the market to a wide customer base. James Dixon & Sons (1806 to1976) built its reputation on quality, and became a world wide brand supplying silver and silver plate goods to famous names such as Harrods and the Savoy Hotel in London.

Interesting examples from the Bateman workshop available to buy will include a George III cream jug with a pedestal foot encircled with beading and a scroll handle patterned with an acanthus flower. There will also be sauce boats, pepper pots, a sugar basket, a tea caddy, tea and coffee pots, a goblet and a variety of spoons and other cutlery.

The exhibition will have pieces for sale from Elkington from the mid-1800s into the 1900s, such as a glass and silver ‘Naturalist’ centrepiece, an ornate fruit dish, and a Modernist style claret jug, all 1887, plus a centrepiece from 1870, a candle holder shaped like a medieval jester’s shoe, a pair of crystal-lined, silver comports and a 1906 jewellery box.

The Dixon’s name and designs now live on under the ownership of British Silverware. The exhibition mainly features C20th designs including Arts & Crafts candlesticks from 1922, a splendid pair of silver epergnes dated 1904, a pair of toast racks from 1909, a silver tray from the 1930s, a 1907 bowl with pierced detail, a loving cup with a heart on each handle and a paper knife made in 2008 from an earlier design. Prices are from £100 to over £20,000.