98 piece King's Pattern Canteen, London 1861

98 Piece Silver King’s Pattern Canteen, London 1861 by George Adams

The Service

We are pleased to be offering a magnificent, Victorian period, silver 12 place settings canteen in Kings Pattern with all pieces made by the best maker of the period, all crested to match and all in wonderful condition.

This is “straight” service of spoons, forks and servers, with the knives being late 20^th century additions. The service caters for seven pieces per 12 place settings with a good range of serving items and plenty of options to add more pieces if required.

All the spoons, forks and servers bear hallmarks for London 1861 and were hand-wrought in the traditional manner by George Adams of Chawner & Company; London’s premier silver flatware maker of the 19^th century. Each piece bears a lovely engraved crest featuring a lion rampant to the front terminal.

Antique knives rarely survive in good condition (handles split and blades rust) and so this service is accompanied by a good quality set of 24 with hallmarks for Sheffield 1986 by Yates Brothers.

The service benefits from having a rarely encountered dozen oval-bowled soup spoons. These are slightly smaller than the standard table spoon and so more appropriate for modern use. Additionally there are four table spoons which are ideal servers and complement the terrific pair of 12” long basting spoons. There are also six salt spoons which have the bonus of gilt (gold-washed) bowls and a lovely quality pair of sauce ladles.

King's Pattern

King's Pattern is the most well known and popular decorative patterns. It was based on an 18th century French design and became fashionable amongst the wealthy in the early years of the 19th Century. The design encompasses a shell to both sides of the handle terminal and reverse of the bowl, scrolls down the handle shaft with a honeysuckle motif to the centre. The double-struck nature of the pattern (i.e. pattern on both sides) ensures that a good gauge of silver was used in manufacture and therefore the majority of London-made pieces in this pattern have a hefty feel in the hand.

The best quality King's Pattern was made in London, where it was hand-wrought and has a high relief to the decoration. Machine made King's Pattern from Sheffield is lower in relief and generally has a less interesting appearance and lighter weight.

The Maker

Chawner & Company was founded in 1815 by William Chawner, on the solid grounding of an apprenticeship and later partnership within the most important line of specialist spoon and forks makers dating back to the mid-18^th century.

Chawner & Company became the largest and most important specialist silver flatware makers of the 19^th Century. In 1840, George W Adams took over the business from his mother-in-law Mary Chawner and developed the company even further using his “GA” maker’s mark. They introduced new flatware patterns and fashioned silver for important private clients and high end retailers.

The company was prolific in their output and always produced the best quality silver flatware available. The spoons and forks were hand forged to ensure balance and durability, and were made from a good gauge of silver to give them a nice hefty weight in the hand. The reputation of Chawner & Company endures to this day and a canteen wrought by them will give maximum satisfaction.

Components

This 98-piece service consists of the following:

The total weight of silver is 5400 grams (173.6 troy ounces) + 24 Silver handled knives.

Optional Extras

We have a huge range of King’s Pattern by George Adams. We can add further dining pieces to increase the size of the service or supply serving pieces to suit. Please note that these additional pieces will not bear the same crest.

Condition

Excellent original condition throughout. The forks have full length tines and the spoons retain their thick bowl tips. The double struck decoration and engraved crests remains crisp throughout.

Presentation

This canteen is offered in 13 anti-tarnish cutlery rolls. There are 12 rolls with a place setting consisting seven items in each one, plus a 13^th to hold the serving items. The pair of basting spoons are in a matching storage bag.

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.