Antique silver has starred at Tennants Auctioneers this November, with outstanding results achieved for fine and rare pieces. Across the month, almost 500 lots of silver and objects of vertu were offered across multiple auctions, which achieved of total hammer price of nearly £550,000, and an exceptional selling rate with only 14 lots going unsold.
Jeffrey Lassaline, Silver Specialist says: “It was such a pleasure to offer so many items of silver over three sales in November. Not only were there items with interesting historical and recent provenance but there were also items selling at a wide range of different price points to appeal to collectors at all levels. Having worked with Anthony Phillips for many years I was particularly pleased with the strong results for his collection. January is going to an even busier month with almost 550 lots coming under the hammer between the Jewellery, Watches and Silver sale and the extraordinary Corby Castle sale.”
Globally, silver prices have surged recently due to high demand in the technology and industry sectors and lowering yields, contributing to strong prices for silver at auction. However, it was the rare and historic pieces from private and notable collections that really caught the attention of bidders. In the Fine Jewellery, Watches and Silver Sale two of the most eagerly sought-after lots were good examples of early Irish silver; the two George II Irish Provincial Silver Chalices by Richard Joyes of Galway, dated 1730 and 1731, were presented by Edmond Bourk, Parish Priest of Killereran to religious houses. One example was presented to the Convent of Kinalehin, which sold for £27,000), and the other presented to the Convent of Rafran, which sold for £22,000 (all figures exclude buyer’s premium. The two chalices were sold on behalf of the Joint Administrators of Mount St Mary’s College and Barlborough Hall School, Derbyshire.
The trend is set to continue into the New Year with the Jewellery, Watches and Silver Sale on 10th January, which will feature over two hundred lots of silver and objects of vertu dating from the 18th to the 20th century, including pieces by makers such as Augustin Le Sage, Robert Garrard, Christopher Dresser, Hunt and Roskell, Georg Jensen and Fabergé. The sale is led by a wonderful and extensive a French Silver Table-Service, which is applied with initials below a coronet (estimate: £8,000-12,000) and by an Edward VII Silver Epergne. Made by Thomas Bradbury and Sons Ltd. in 1903, the George III-style epergne weights almost 4kg and was presented to John Hepper Esq. by the Members of the Yorkshire Branch of the Auctioneers Institute (estimate: £4,000-6,000).
Rarities in the sale include a George II Scottish Silver Teapot by John Main of Edinburgh in 1738 and the Assay Master Archibald Ure (estimate: £700-1,000) and a rare Colonial Silver Waiter marked for Jamaica and made in the mid-18th century (estimate: £300-500). There are also several items relating to Henry Lowther, 3rd Earl of Lonsdale in the sale, who was the nephew of the second earl who died without an heir in 1872. Most of the pieces in the sale are hallmarked for the year he succeeded his uncle, presumably made to celebrate the event. Amongst the items engraved with his crest is a Set of Six Victorian Silver Dinner-Plates by John Hunt and Robert Roskell (estimate: £4,000-6,000). Tennants have seen a number of interesting items made by Fabergé over the last few years, perhaps most memorably the charming Elephant Table-lighter that sold for £21,000 in 2023, and in 2026 will offer for sale a Russian Silver Gilt and Bowenite Bell Push by Fabergé (estimate: £1,500-2,500).
An extraordinary collection of silver be offered in the landmark three-day Corby Castle sale (22nd to 24th January). One of Cumbria’s most historically important mansion houses, grade I-listed Corby Castle had been in the same family for centuries; when the house was sold in the late 1990s the new owners carefully restored and furnished the castle and amassed one of the most extensive collections of silver to come onto the market in recent times. The Corby Castle sale will include over 320 lots of silver, and highlights of the collection include an Indian Silver Venison-Dish and Cover made by Hamilton and Co. of Calcutta in the early 19th century (estimate: £12,000-18,000), and a massive 1901 Edward VII Silver Monteith-Bowl by Charles Stuart Harris of London (estimate: £6,000-8,000).
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