72 piece Georgian Canteen by WE/WF

72-piece Silver Old English Pattern Canteen, London 1797 to 1823 by William Eley & William Fearn

The Service

We are pleased to be offering a rare opportunity to buy a Georgian period silver canteen in Old English Pattern. There are pieces enough to lay out 12 place settings including modern silver handled knives.

All the pieces in this cutlery service were made in London by the most important specialist silver flatware makers of the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries – Messrs Eley & Fearn. There are also a few pieces from 1808-14 when the partnership included William Chawner too. The pieces in this service were all hand-wrought and we have hand-picked them from our large stock to be the best matching in terms of length and proportions.

The service includes 12 traditional oval bowled table spoons that can either be used for supping soup or as serving items. The forks in this service have been chosen for having good length tines. The majority of forks from this period are worn, but although there is some slight loss to the length (which does not affect their practicality), these forks are as good as you will find for the period.

Antique knives tend not to last the rigours of time and so we have opted for 24 modern silver handled knives with stainless steel blades as the most practical knives to complement this canteen.

All the pieces have been polished and benefit from having no personalised engravings to them.

The Makers

William Eley & William Fearn were specialist silver spoonmakers. This close-knit branch of the larger silversmithing family concentrated on producing hand-wrought silver spoons, forks and serving pieces. The skills were passed down from master to apprentice and so long “bloodlines” of these relationships can be traced through the years.

The most important “family” began in the mid-18^th century with Ebenezer Coker and central to the group was the partnership of Eley & Fearn. William Fearn had been apprenticed to Thomas Chawner in the 1750’s and William Eley had in turn become Fearn’s apprentice in the 1770’s. The two silversmiths worked solo, in other partnerships and together from the 1790’s through to 1823. The size of the partnership increased in 1808 when their apprentice William Chawner joined them. He went on to create the most important specialist spoonmakers of the 19^th Century – Chawner & Company.

Eley & Fearn were the most prolific and produced the best quality hand-wrought silver flatware of the period. They supplied the top London retailers and had elite private clients, always producing goods to the highest standards.

Old English Pattern

Old English Pattern was first introduced circa 1770 and has always been a favoured pattern due to its elegant and simple form. It was the dominant flatware pattern of the late 18^th century and early years of the 19^th century.

Components

This 72-piece service consists of the following:

Total weight of weighable silver 2390 grams (76.8 troy ounces) + 24 silver handled knives

Condition

Excellent polished condition with no engravings. The spoons retain their full bowls and the forks are in fine condition with equal length tines.

Presentation

This canteen is supplied within 6 new royal blue anti-tarnish cutlery rolls.

As with all the canteens available from our web-site, we are happy to send a sample place setting for approval, on receipt of a fully refundable surety payment, prior to purchasing this canteen.