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A George III silver-gilt punch ladle with rococo decoration made in Edinburgh in 1819 by George McHattie, engraved Lucifer.
Price: £3250.00

Lucifer was a celebrated race horse (1813-1821), out of Whitworth and Hambleton Mare, which won the Edinburgh and Caledonian Hunt Meeting at Musselburgh on October 11th 1819. The 'prize‘ raised then by '14 subscribers of ten guineas each’ was ‘the gold cup, value 100 guineas … surplus (to be) paid to the owners in specie’. It is possible to infer that this ladle formed part of, or was made from, the extra payment. At the time of winning the race Lucifer was owned by Mr. Skene and weighed 8 stone 12 pounds.

Lucifer went on to have a successful racing career and was renamed Clootie around 1820. Reporting on his death in 1821, the Sporting Magazine recorded that: "He was quite well the night before."

A pair of George II Onslow pattern sauce ladles of unusually heavy gauge and quality with double drop heels made in London in 1759 by William Cripps.
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Old English pattern silver with a die-cast crest of a Fouled Anchor beneath a Crown, the symbol of the Admiralty, was recorded in an internal inventory of the dies held by Chawner and Company in the nineteenth century as 'Anchor '. However it is now more usually termed Admiralty pattern.

Flatware in this pattern, now rarely found, appears to have been supplied to Royal Naval ships from around 1850 until around the outbreak of World War One. It is always found with the incuse mark of a broad arrow to denote military issue (see this link for more information about this mark).

A George III soup ladle with cast finial and fluted bowl made in London in 1766 by John Romer, initialled {HGB}

Price: £595.00

A Victorian silver gilt Cast Vine pattern sauce ladle with fluted bowl and a lip made in London in 1858 by the Lias Brothers.
Price: £525.00

A Victorian Fiddle Thread and Shell soup ladle of unusual weight made in Birmingham in 1878 by Elkington and Company, engraved with a complex monogram .
Price: £295.00

A French silver sifter with richly engraved bowl and cast pierced handle in first quality silver circa 1860, maker's mark indecipherable.
Price: £295.00

A George II punch ladle with oval bowl and turned wooden handle made in London in 1731 by John Gorham, crested with a wheat sheaf or garb.

Price: £265.00

An Old English pattern soup ladle by Richard Crossley London 1805, crested for Penton
Price: £250.00

The crest is probably that of Henry Penton (1736-1812) who served as Member of Parliament for Winchester from 1761-1796. On his retirement from the House of Commons he gave a witty speech opposing a tax on dogs. During his lifetime Penton was known for starting a liaison with his wife's maid Martha Judd, a result of which was his wife leaving him and his taking Martha to Italy where he 'had her taught music and languages'. Penton married Martha a few days after his wife's death- Lord Thomond wrote of her that 'Her voice is fine, and she sung so well that Mr Penton said £1,500 a year was offered to her if she would appear upon the Italian stage. The offer was made at Rome'. The location of his London estate still recalls his name- Pentonville.

An Australian fiddle pattern silver toddy ladle, by J. Walker of Darlinghurst, New South Wales, initialled {JJR}.
Price: £250.00

A George III Onslow pattern sauce ladle with feather-edge borders made in London in 1784 by George Smith, crested with a stag.

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When a new tax on silver objects was brought in in 1784 the payment of it was shown by striking pieces with the incuse duty mark found on this piece. It was struck on silver assayed from 1st December 1784 until the end of the 1785 assay year in London (and until 1786 in some provincial assay offices). It was replaced with the cameo duty mark and it is believed that the incuse head caused more damage to pieces than the other cameo marks and that this was the reason for the introduction of the alternative duty mark. This ladle carries an unusually clear impression of the mark.

A George III Old English with feather-edge cartouche (sometimes called Carrington Shield) pattern sauce ladle with fluted bowl made in London in 1771 by George Smith, crested with a lion.
Price: £235.00

A Victorian silver-gilt sifter with Mother-of-Pearl handle made in Sheffield in 1887 by John Newton Mappin (hallmarked on stem and cap).

Price: £225.00

A George III Onslow sauce ladle with fluted bowl made in London in 1762 by George Baskerville, initialled {IM/AF} on the back of the heel.

Price: £225.00

An Old English pattern sifter with shoulders with fancy pierced bowl made in London in 1762 by Paul Callard .
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A pair of Victorian Fiddle pattern sauce ladles with a lip- one made in Sheffield in 1838 by Patrick Leonard (of Salford) and the other by William Robert Smily of London in 1851. Both are crested with a falcon.

Price: £210.00

A William IV Rose pattern sifter with pierced bowl made in London in 1834 by John, Henry and Charles Lias, crested with a bull's head out of a ducal coronet.

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A Victorian silver Fiddle pattern punch ladle ( 26cm/10.25 " long) with a spout assayed in Sheffield in 1896 by Thomas Henry Blake.

Price: £195.00

An Old English sauce ladle with bright-cut decoration made in London in 1786 by George Smith and William Fearn, engraved with the arms of Shiffner impaling another (almost certainly Godin).
Price: £195.00

John Shiffner (b. 1729, died c. 1790) was the son of Matthew Shiffner, a merchant who was a member of the Russia Company. Matthew is believed to have been the son of an Archbishop of Riga and married Agnata Brewer, gouvernante to the Duchess of Courland (later Empress Ann of Russia). Shiffner was naturalised as an Englishman in 1711 and traded from Broad Street in the City of London. The business was later run by his two sons Henry and John.

John Shiffner married Elizabeth Eleanor Godin, daughter of Stephen Peter Godin, in 1753. Godin was of Huguenot descent as well as a member of the Russia Company. He was also a trustee of the Shiffner family and traded as an insurance broker.

A George III Old English pattern sauce ladle with feather-edge borders and bowl made in London in 1769 by Thomas Evans.

Price: £175.00

A George III Old English pattern sauce ladle with a Celtic point made in Dublin in 1803, crested for Porte and later additional engraving indicating a gift to a member of the Fitzpatrick family, the heel is initialled {HPE}.

Price: £175.00

The engraving on this ladle has two unusual features. The first is that the initials on the heel appear to represent a marriage between a male member of the Porte family (whose crest is the upper one on the front and for whom there is evidence in Ireland in the 18th century) whose first name began with H and a woman whose first name began with E. The use of the initial letter of the surname above those of two christian names appears to be unusual in Ireland, but is recorded in other parts of the British isles. The comparative inexperience with this type of initialling might explain the failure to raise the central initial above the outer two. Sadly extant genealogical records do not indicate the exact identity of the couple concerned.

The second unusual feature of the engraving stems from the time that this ladle was presented to someone outside the family later in the 19th century. As there was already a crest, rather than initials, on the front the engraver has engraved the 'to' to indicate the gift but used the crest of the new owner (not, as would normally have been the case, their initials). This is a more elegant solution but one which does not appear to have been often used.

A William IV/Victorian Old English pattern sauce ladle made in Perth circa 1830 by Robert and Robert Keay and also carrying assay marks for Sheffield, 1894 and the maker's mark of Albert Henry Thompson. It is initialled {H}.

Price: £165.00

The appearance of two sets of hallmarks on this sauce ladle is very unusual. By the time of the assaying of this ladle in Sheffield the books on hallmarks included reference to Perth made silver and even illustrated the marks on this ladle. The fact that the initial looks late 19th century suggests that it and the Sheffield assay marks were probably applied at the same time- perhaps when a service was being completed and this ladle was hallmarked to match the rest of it.

A Victorian Onslow pattern sauce ladle with a fluted bowl made in London in 1851 by George Adams, crested with a demi-savage holding a club and a bird's head (probably a variant of Paterson or Puxty).

Price: £165.00

A George III Old English pattern sauce ladle with wrigglework borders made in London in 1782 by John Lambe, crested with a vested arm holding a sword and initialled {TAWM} for a member of the Waddy, Weatherby or White family.

Price: £145.00

A Victorian Dognose pattern sauce ladle made in London in 1880 by Francis Higgins engraved with a coat of arms.
Price: £145.00

A George III pair of Fiddle pattern sauce ladles made in London in 1804 (assayed between the 31st of October 1804 and the 30th of May 1805) by Richard Crossley, engraved {Royal Berkshire Militia}.

Price: £145.00

The English Militias were an updated form of the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd. The exact conditions under which each local militia was trained and used were reorganised in 1181, 1252. In Berkshire, however, there is a record of a town guard of six men at Reading in 1488 and the town sent troops to Scotland in 1542, the Siege of Boulogne in 1544 and to support the accession of Mary I (rather than that of Lady Jane Grey) in 1553. There were further reforms of the Militia between 1557 and 1558.

The Berkshire Militia or 'Trained Bands' saw service during the Spanish Armada in 1588 and were present when Queen Elizabeth I spoke to the troops at Tilbury. The Berkshire troops saw service in the British Civil Wars of the mid 17th century and under the Commonwealth and again on the Restoration of Charles II. As before, it was called on at times of national threat (although Berkshire was not required to send troops during the 1745 Jacobite rebellion). Throughout the wars with France in the 18th century the Berkshire Militia was active locally- primarily to guard Prisoners of War and be ready for a French invasion.

In 1801 the Militia was stationed at Weymouth, where the Royal family were staying, and were among the 12 Militias designated Royal by George III on 23rd April 1804. In 1804 the Colonel was Arthur Vansittart of Shottesbrooke Park (1775-1829).

The Militia continued to be employed throughout the 19th and 20th and early 20th centuries but in 1939 no officers were listed and it was disbanded in April 1953.

A Victorian King's Husk pattern sauce ladle made in London in 1839 by Mary Chawner, initialled {AR} beneath a Baron's coronet.
Price: £145.00

A George IV pair of Old English pattern spice sifters (one plain pierced and the other fancy), made in London in 1830 by William Chawner.
Price: £145.00

A George III Onslow pattern sauce ladle with feather-edged borders made in London in 1802 by William Sumner, crested with a stag.
Price: £115.00

A George III Old English pattern sifter made in London in 1803 by Richard Crossley, crested with a lion passant holding a lance for a member of the Powell family and initialled {JSP}.
Price: £110.00

A George III Old English spice sifter with beaded borders made in London between 30th May and 30th November 1784 by George Smith, initialled {GEO}
Price: £95.00

This spoon was assayed between 30th May 1784 and 30th November 1784 when Plate Duty was imposed and the Duty mark was introduced.

A George III Old English pattern sauce ladle with beaded borders (extending only half way down the stem), London 1785, crested with a Knight .
Price: £95.00

The short length of beading on the stem of this ladle is an unusual feature. It is possible that this ladle came from the Bateman workshop as the same feature has been seen on a salt ladle by Hester Bateman made in 1782.

A George III Old English Thread pattern sauce ladle made in London in 1802 by Richard Crossley, crested for Bardolph.
Price: £90.00

A George III Old Sheffield Plate sauce ladle with shell heel, c. 1770, initialled {A [over I E}.
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A George III Fiddle pattern spice sifter made in London in 1824 by William Chawner, crested with a talbot's head on which there are 5 pellets (perhaps a variant of Stenhouse).

Price: £85.00

A George III Fiddle Thread and Shell pattern spice sifter made in London in 1818 by William Eley and William Fearn, crested with a stag.

Price: £78.00

A George III Old English sauce ladle, by John or James Dunsford Exeter 1810, initialled {JMJ} .
Price: £75.00
Miles Harrison in his 'Exeter and West Country Silver' (2014) notes that 'A JD mark has been noted on sugar tongs, teaspoons and wine labels bearing Exeter hallmarks for 1810 and 1811. This mark could either belong to John Dunsford [d. 1816] or James Newman Dunsford [(d. 1835)].'

A George IV Old Sheffield Plate Fiddle pattern toddy ladle with wheat sheaf, circa 1820.

Price: £55.00

The wheat sheaf in the die of this ladle is similar to that of six silver Old English tablespoons made in Edinburgh in 1824 by Alexander Henderson (stock number 9011). The fact that it is not on a heraldic wreath indicates that it is an agricultural symbol rather than a crest and could be associated with the Corn Laws introduced in 1815 to prevent the import of cereals from abroad. Interestingly the symbol is also found on coin silver spoons made in America.