Elkington Teapot, 1874

This is a superb quality Victorian silver teapot made by Elkington & Company. The quality of this large, hefty piece is quite outstanding. This teapot has a 3 pint volume and is engraved to one side with a coat-of-arms, crest and motto and to the other with a comlex cipher.

This Gothic style, upright teapot is richly decorated with a chased and studded design. It stands on a pedestal foot and has a combination of bead, rope, thread and leaf bandings. The main body has applied trefoil motifs and the handle joins are superbly formed as leaf tendrils. The hinged cover has an unusual pivot action and the whole piece just exudes the very highest quality. A truly fabulous piece.

The condition is excellent throughout with crisp decoration and engraving.

The engraved coat-of-arms and motto are for the Armitage family and were first granted to Sir Elkanah Armitage circa 1850. The arms can be described as "gules a lion's head erased within an orle argent between three crosse potent or".

Sir Elkanah Armitage (1794-1876) was a cotton manufacturer and served as the Mayor of Manchester between 1846 and 1848. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1849 and became the High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1866. The motto under the arms "Virtus Mille Scuta" ("Virtue Equals a Thousand Shields") were certainly used by Vernon Kirk Armitage (1842-1911), son of Elkanah who served as Vice Chairman of Lancashire County Council. The cipher to the other side of the arms reads "SFA" -  this refers possibly refers to Samuel Armitage the 4th son of Elkanah who worked in the family's cotton business.

Please see the links below for a matching coffee pot and hot water jug/wine ewer.