75-Piece Silver Fiddle, Thread & Shell Canteen of Cutlery, London 1886 by Francis Higgins

fiddle thread shell silver cutlery service Francis higgins

£5,250.00

75-piece Canteen – Fiddle, Thread & Shell Pattern (12 place settings) - Hallmark: London 1886 by Francis Higgins Weight: 4455 grams (143.2 tr.oz.) + 24 knives - Ref. No.: FSGA/2346

75-Piece Silver Fiddle, Thread & Shell Canteen of Cutlery,

London 1886 by Francis Higgins

The Service

We are pleased to be offering a very high quality Victorian period silver canteen in the very popular Fiddle, Thread & Shell Pattern with 20th century knives.

This service provides all the important dining pieces with enough to serve 12 sittings, plus has a useful pair of sauce ladles and a soup ladle.

The spoons, forks and ladles were all made in 1886 by one of the premier London specialist flatware makers of the period, Francis Higgins and bear the same engraved crest of a sitting hound throughout - with the exception of a single replacement dessert fork made in 1844 and crested differently (see final photo).

The service is in an original condition, which means that it has the patina of age and use; we have given every piece a clean and hand polish.

The silver handled knives are modern accompaniments and are fitted with stainless steel blades – these are more practicable than 19th century knives that suffer from rusty blades and other damage. The knives were made by John Biggin Ltd of Sheffield in 1987.

Fiddle, Thread & Shell Pattern

Fiddle Pattern was the dominant flatware pattern of 19th Century Britain. It was by far the most popular pattern from 1810 until 1880 and a number of variants were introduced – the premier quality variant, adding both a thread edge and a shell motif to the top of the handle and reverse of the bowl, was called Fiddle, Thread & Shell. Because of the high relief and double-struck decoration used on this pattern, a thick gauge of silver was necessary to produce it, hence FT&S pieces tend to have a much heavier weight than their more restrained fiddle pattern counterparts.

Components

This 75-piece service consists of the following:

Total weight of weighable silver 4455 grams (143.2 troy ounces) + 24 silver handled knives.

Condition

This service is in excellent original condition. The forks have good even length tines and the spoons have good thick bowl tips. The decoration remains crisp and every piece has an antique patina from use. The sauce ladles are a little pitted inside the bowls.

Presentation

This canteen is supplied in new anti-tarnish cutlery rolls with individual pockets to hold 12 items per roll. The three servers are supplied loose. There are six rolls in total.

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.