At 1stDibs, there are many versions of the ideal antique silver tea set for your home. Each antique silver tea set for sale was constructed with extraordinary care, often using
metal,
silver and
ceramic. Your living room may not be complete without an antique silver tea set — find older editions for sale from the 18th Century and newer versions made as recently as the 20th Century. Each antique silver tea set bearing
Victorian,
Georgian or
Regency hallmarks is very popular.
Coalport Porcelain,
Tiffany & Co. and
Meissen Porcelain each produced at least one beautiful antique silver tea set that is worth considering.
Prices for an antique silver tea set can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, they begin at $23 and can go as high as $224,583, while the average can fetch as much as $1,961.
Ready to serve high tea and brunch for your family and friends? Start with the right antique, new or vintage tea set.
Tea is a multicultural, multinational beverage and isn’t confined to any particular lifestyle or age group. It has humble beginnings, and one of its best-known origin stories places the first cups of tea in 2700 B.C. in China, where it was recognized for its medicinal properties. Jump ahead to 17th-century England, when Chinese tea began to arrive at ports in London. During the early 1800s, tea became widely affordable, and the concept of teatime took shape all over England. Today, more than 150 million people reportedly drink tea daily in the United States.
Early tea drinkers enjoyed their beverage in a bowl, and English potters eventually added a handle to the porcelain bowls so that burning your fingers became less of a teatime hazard. With the rise in the popularity of teatime, tea sets, also referred to as tea service, became a hot commodity.
During Queen Victoria’s reign, teakettles and coffeepots were added to tea services that were quite large — indeed, small baked goods were served with your drink back then, and a tea set could include many teacups and saucers, a milk pot and other accessories.
During the early 1920s, a sterling-silver full tea service and tray designed by Tiffany & Co. might include a hot-water kettle on a stand, a coffeepot, teapot, a creamer with a small lip spout, a waste bowl and a bowl for sugar, which the British were stirring into tea as early as the 18th century.
But you don’t have to limit your tea set to Victorian or Art Deco styles — shake up teatime with an artful contemporary service. If the bold porcelain cups and saucers by Italian brand Seletti are too unconventional for your otherwise subdued tea circle, find antique services on 1stDibs from Japan, France and other locales as well as vintage mid-century modern tea sets and neoclassical designs.
