74 piece Georgian Silver Queen's Pattern Canteen of Cutlery, 1823 WE/WF

The Service

This is a fabulous George IV period silver 12 place settings canteen is in the highly sought after Queen’s Pattern. The service provides all the standard flatware pieces for 12 place settings, with the bonus of an original set of dessert knives.

This is a straight, Georgian canteen with all pieces (except one egg spoon) bearing hallmarks for 1823. They were hand wrought in London by the most important company of silver flatware makers of the early 19^th century – Eley & Fearn. All the flatware bears their “WE/WF” makers mark and 1823 was the partnership’s final year of production. The one egg spoon is hallmarked London 1869 by George Adams (Chawner & Co) and is a near exact match with the same engraved crest.

Every piece has the same matching engraved crest to the front terminal. It is extremely rare to find a full, straight service of Queen’s pattern from this early date. To have survived in such fine condition and intact as a service for 200 years is quite remarkable.

The dessert knives have both silver handles and silver blades. As per the standard method of manufacturing, the handles are loaded with resin to ensure a tight hold and have not been included in the weight shown below. Should you wish to have other knives to accompany this set, please ask as we have plenty in stock.

There are six of both the teaspoons and slightly shorter egg spoons. This allows flexibility and interchangeability with their use, furthermore egg spoons are often used these days as coffee spoons.

The main dining pieces have a good, solid weight in the hand and exude a feeling of high quality.

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.

Queen's Pattern

Queen’s Pattern was first in fashion in the 1820’s and was named in honour of Queen Caroline of Brunswick (King George IV’s wife). The highly ornate decoration found on Queen’s Pattern demands that each piece is made with a thick gauge of silver and thus makes it one of the most prestigious flatware patterns. 

There are several variants of the pattern, this canteen being in the most popular being with "anthemion heel". This term relates to the motif on the reverse side of the bowl and tines. Dating from 1823, this service is one of the earliest examples of the pattern that you are likely to find.

Components

This 74-piece service consists of the following:

Total weight of weighable silver is 4220 grams (135.7 troy ounces) with the 12 silver dessert knives adding a further 840 grams to the total gross weight.

Condition

Excellent original condition throughout. It is a huge bonus for this service to be in such fine condition. The high relief decoration is crisp throughout, the spoons have original thick bowl tips and the forks are full and equal length.

Presentation

This canteen is offered in second-hand anti-tarnish cutlery rolls.

All of our canteens are offered with a full money-back guarantee. We are also happy to send a sample place setting for approval, on receipt of a fully refundable surety payment - just phone or email your preferences. Alternatively, in-person viewings are welcome by appointment or via Zoom.