George III Silver Gavel, 1788

This is a rare novelty silver auctioneer's gavel from the latter decades of the eighteenth century. 

The gavel is faithful in its hammer-shaped form to a full-sized original and has a retainer loop to the end of the hand for suspending from a chain. This miniature gavel was made in London in 1788 and bears appropriate hallmarks for smallware of this period. We have been unable to identify the "ES" maker, although Grimwade refers to a silversmith from Thame called Edward Stone who was working around this period (ref. 3390).

We have not previously come across one of these and it has the additional bonus of being in excellent condition.