REPOUSSÉ STERLING SUGAR BOWL / TUMBLER CUP 1886

Silver items are not that popular on Collector’s Weekly. I really don’t know why. Silver has always been a collecting passion for me. Perhaps it’s a generational thing? Cultural? Cleanophobia?
But I’ll give it a go again….
On TV there are a variety of Antiques shows here in Oz to whet my palate each day for eye candy. On one recent episode of Bargain Hunt I saw an example of a cup like this one. Even more recently I saw on an English Antiques Roadshow a William III 'tumbler cup'. It was market purchase a few years ago for a couple of dollars. It retains some of the gilding within the cup, but its condition means that it has been a useful item. This style of work is gaining in popularity in England these days. I like the repoussé work is actually very labour intensive on such a small piece of silver. I believe all of the work on it is hand-done and note just pressed work.
One of the attractive sides of collecting silver is the use of marks to indicate manufacturing details – but not in all cases. The marks here are very clear. The ‘m’ indicates 1886, the anchor Birmingham and the maker’s mark of L.S tells us that it was made by L. Spiers who registered his mark in October 1886. So this was an early piece by this maker. The style is totally over the top Victoriana – Queen Victoria’s head is there too among the hallmarks. I think it is a revival of William III repoussé work. I love the way that the silversmith has created that spiral ribbing and the well crimped edge is very tactile.The additional hand-chasing all over gives even further depth to the appearance of the piece.
H 5.5 cm or 2.2"
W 7.5 cm or 2.9"