Pair of Duty Dodger Sauce Ladles, c.1775 Paul Callard
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Sauce Ladles (pair) -Old English Pattern - London circa 1775 by Paul Callard - 18.8cm long; 132g combined weight - HF/3729
These are a fine quality pair of George III period silver sauce ladles with the added point of interest in being "duty dodgers".
These antique sauce ladles are early examples of the Old English pattern and have deep, circular bowls which have the unusual feature of elegant lines following the contour of the top rim around the reverse sides.
The ladles were made by the top silversmith Paul Callard and bears his distinctive "PC" maker's mark four times on the reverse of the stem. At this date, spoons sent to Goldsmiths Hall for hallmarking were stamped to the lower section of the stem (known as "bottom-struck") and often needed remedial work on return from the Hall to straighten out the distortion caused by hallmarking. This resulted in squashed hallmarks that were tricky to read. Unscrupulous spoonmakers took advantage of the situation by not sending goods to the Hall, but instead to avoid paying the fees, struck their own mark four times to simulate hallmarks; often with one maker's mark clear and the others pinched-in so as to be barely legible. Highly collectable today and known as "duty dodgers", these ladles are perfect examples.
These sauce ladles are engraved with original fleur-de-lys crests and remain in excellent condition.
