King's Pattern Half Canteen, 1882 by GA

30 Piece Silver King’s Pattern Canteen, London 1882 by George Adams

The Service

We are pleased to be offering an excellent Victorian silver 6 place settings canteen in Kings Pattern. This “straight” service provides for five pieces per 6 place settings with plenty of options to add more pieces including knives and serving items.

All the spoons and forks bear the same hallmarks for 1882 and were hand-wrought in the traditional manner by London’s premier silver flatware maker of the 19^th century. Each piece bears a lovely engraved crest of a cherubic face between wing supports.

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 30-piece service consists of the following:

The total weight of silver is 2200 grams (70.7 troy ounces).

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.

We can supply a late 20^th century set of 12 silver handled knives to complement this service on request. Consisting of 6 table knives and 6 dessert knives these extra pieces will cost £600.

Condition

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

Presentation

This canteen is offered loose. We can supply anti-tarnish cutlery rolls on request. These navy blue rolls have individual pockets to hold 12 items per roll and are available for £15 each.

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.