Silver Spoon Antiques

A lovely two-handled cup by Bassé (Source: Bonhams Australia) Not one of the big names of Adelaide silversmithing, I think Frederick Bassé is underrated! His larger pieces show an elegant simplicity. Both a Jeweller and a Silversmith, Bassé produced pieces from the early 1880s until his death in 1913. His firm continued under his widow, trading as F. Bassé and Co until around 1923. An example of Bassé's hallmarks A plain but heavy silver box by Bassé

Did you know that there have been women silversmiths for hundreds of years?   Women have been noted as silversmiths for hundreds of years.  Widows would often continue on the business of their husbands (often placing their maker's mark in a lozenge) and daughters would enter business partnerships with relatives also in the trade.  Dorothy Langlands was a widow who continued business for 10 years after her husbands death.   For sixty years the Langlands family were the largest manufacturers of silverware in Newcastle, England.   Dorothy Langlands  was the wife of John Langlands II and she took over her husband's business in 1804 when he died. She retired in 1814 and died in 1845.  This means we can date all silver marked with her maker's mark (D.L) to 1804-1814.  This is helpful because a lot of smaller silver items would not have been stamped with the date letter.   Below are two examples of her work.  A nice pair of bright-cut sugar tongs and a set of four Old E

It is always worth having a look at each spoon in a boxed set...especially if they don't quite match. Here we have a boxed 'set' of golf club teaspoons and a pair of sugar tongs. Silver plated and priced at $45. What would you think? I picked up each one and each was marker as APEX silverplate. Except the last one! It was hallmarked as Australian Sterling Silver, made by Fairfax and Roberts. Not the 'Stg' for sterling as the third mark. I asked the dealer his best price for the set...$30. A nice 1920's-30's Australian sterling silver teaspoon. In itself well worth a price of $30.