Elkington & Co. Garniture Set

An important antique silverplate charger created by Elkington & Co., based on a sculpture by French artist Morel Ladeuil. Cast by one of the most significant and highly respected English silver firms in history, the classically-designed repoussé form displays an intimate scene of a lady being dressed by her attendants. Surrounded by a border of Greek anthemions and supported its elm and mahogany solid wood frame, this plaque is a tour-de-force of silver plate artistry. Elkington & Co. patented the first commercial electroplating process and held Royal Warrants for Queen Victoria, King Edward VI...

This exceptional sterling silver inkwell was presented to Henry Morton Stanley, the famed Welsh-American journalist, politician and explorer, on the occasion of his marriage to Dorothy Tennant. The inkwell was a royal gift from the Prince of Wales, the future King George V, and the Princess of Wales. The charming inkstand was designed by Walter & John Barnard for the royal silversmiths Elkington & Co., and no detail was spared in its creation. Each inkwell bears Stanley’s monogram, while the crest of the Prince and Princess adorns the delicately pierced tray. The inscription reads, “To H. M. Stanley on the occasion of his marriage / From the Prince & Princess of Wales / July 12th, 1880.” Born in Wales, Henry Morton Stanley’s lifetime of adventure began at the young age of 15 when he crossed the Atlantic aboard a merchant vessel and jumped ship in New Orleans. The young orphan was taken in by a local merchant named Henry Morton Stanley, whose name he took as his own. Stanley began a career as a journalist and was commissioned by the New York Herald to go to Central Africa in search of the famous missionary David Livingstone...

Silver Gilt Salver Elkington & Co. Hallmarked Birmingham, 1889 Remarkable provenance, breathtaking artistry and exceptional rarity make this majestic silver gilt salver by Elkington...

Uniquely designed in the form of a gift box tied with ribbon, this engaging silver tea caddy was created by the prominent silversmith Frederick Elking...

Important tray made in gilded bronze and “cloisonné” enamel attributed to Elkington and Willms. Ornamented with a centering polychrome enameled peacock plaque, made of very high standard quality, mounted on a gilt-bronze dish, decorated in relief with Japanese Nô theater masks. The great Birmingham firm of Elkingtons, was largely the creation of George Richards Elkington (1800-1865), who worked from 1824 in Birmingham as a manufacturer of silver-mounted scent bottles. By 1829 the business had expanded sufficiently for a branch to have been established in London. In the late 1830s the Elkingtons began making experiments to apply the principles of electro-metallurgy to gilding and plating with silver and in 1840 the patent was at last taken out. Elkingtons owed their rise to a position amongst the most important silversmiths of the country to their exploitation of this new process and the two of the most famous designers then employed, both of them French, Albert Wilms (1827-1899) and Morel-Ladeuil (1820-1888), who helped to make Elkingtons’ reputation with their elaborate exhibition pieces. Albert Willms was apprenticed as modeler and engraver to Klagman, Dieterle and Constant in Paris before working for Morel & Co. in London in 1848. On his return to Paris he was employed by the great Parisian silversmiths including Christofle and Froment-Meurice, for whom he designed pieces to be presented at the 1855 Universal Exhibition in Paris. It was during this period that he joined the firm of Elkington in London as head decorator. Elkington was soon to become one of the first to produce refined pieces in “champlevé” enamel in the Chinese and Japanese styles, which were presented with great success at the London Universal Exhibition in 1862 (see Masterpieces of Industrial Art & Sculpture at the International Exhibition 1862, J.B. Waring, London, 1863, III, pl. 211). Willms’ “champlevé” enamels could not be compared, however, with the delicate “cloisonné” enamels exhibited by Japan at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. This explains why Elkington adapted the ancient Japanese technique to produce pieces according to European taste and custom. Followings the 1867 Exhibition all the major European artists rivaled in ingenuity for the 1873 Universal Exhibition in Vienna. In London Albert Willms presented his luxurious vases and cups in “cloisonné” enamel for Elkington (see Illustrations of Art Manufacturers in the Precious Metals exhibited by Elkington & Co., Inventors, Patentees and Manufactures of electroplate, 1873), whilst in Paris, Ferdinand Thesmar (1843-1912) produced in the workshops of Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892) a tray decorated with a golden pheasant in “cloisonné” enamel on copper...

Tiffany French Louis XVI Clock Garniture Set, Bronze, Marble, 19th/20th Century A French Louis XVI style three-piece gilt bronze and w...

A fine and impressive antique Victorian English sterling silver vase with military interest (Durham Light Infantry); an addition to our ornamental silverware collection. This fine antique Victorian sterling silver vase has a tapering cylindrical form to a domed circular spreading foot. The upper and lower portions of the body of the vase are embellished with embossed and chased stylized scrolling leaf and bead decoration in a swirl design. The body is further ornamented with a band of six cartouches amidst a shaped border accented with a leaf motif between each; four of the cartouches remain vacant. To one side there is a contemporary bright cut engraved crest of the Durham Light Infantry amidst the inscription ‘Presented to Officers, 3rd Bn, The Durham Light Infantry’, with the presentation inscription ‘Officers Race, won by, Lieut H J Sowerby, 1887’ to the other side. The upper rim of this impressive vase is encircled with an applied moulded border to the rim. The vase retains the original gilt interior. In 1758 General John Lambton of County Durham first raised the 68th Regiment of Foot as part of the British Army. This later amalgamated with another regiment to become The Durham Light Infantry in 1881. Condition This antique Victorian vase...

A fine and impressive antique Victorian English sterling silver vase with military interest (Durham Light Infantry); an addition to our ornamental silverware collection. This fine...