Silver Spoon Antiques

Antique Irish Bright-Cut Sterling Silver Bright-cut engraving hit England in about 1780 and was in fashion for about 30 years.  It can be readily found on antique Georgian sterling silver spoons and sugar tongs of that time. Bright-cut decoration is when the pattern is faceted out of the silver so as to reflect light at different angles. Personally, bright-cut designs are one of our favourites, as there is such variety of patterns and they are very pretty to look at.  Ireland generally followed the English trends and Bright-cut was no exception. As they often did though, the Irish put their own national spin. There are four main patterns that you will find on Irish Bright-cut silver of the time; Star Pattern, Flower Pattern, Bow Pattern and Prince of Wales Plumes Pattern.  Examples of Irish Star Pattern on teaspoons Star Pattern This is the most common and the most recognisable Irish pattern. It is seen in a number of forms, but the most readily found is th...

Benjamin Tait was based in Dublin. He produced quite a large amount of silversmith in his relatively short career. He worked from around 1784 to 1791. His workshop was near Bride Street, in the inner city of of Dublin. His most common makers marks have a serrated edge and are clearly recognisable. Example of Benjamin Tait's maker mark He made a number of different pieces, but appears to have specialised in flatware. Below are four examples of his bright-cut pattern sugar tongs. His tongs are often much smaller than other Irish examples, the first three displayed measure between 13.5-14.5cm. The fourth pair are of a more common Irish size and measure just under 17cm. Bright-cut Sugar Tongs with rounded shell bowls by Tait Bright-cut Sugar Tongs with concave design Bright-cut Sugar Tongs with flower pattern Large pair of Sugar Tongs by Tait, in a much more typically Irish size and style

Can you tell me what this is and what it was used for?   Irish Marrow Scoop, John Shields, Dublin It’s known as a marrow scoop .   Back in eighteenth century (the earliest example dates from just before then in 1690), the marrow (which is the stuff inside bones) was considered a delicacy.   So they made special spoons just to get at the stuff.  Very popular in the 1700s, they became scarcer in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.   Quite large, often around 25cm long, some would have a spoon on one end and the scoop on the other, others, such as this example, had two different sized scoops.   Keep an eye out for them, especially rare Scottish and Irish examples.