60 pce Fiddle Thread & Shell Canteen, 1839 Antique Sterling Silver Cutlery Set

60 Piece Silver Canteen of Cutlery,

London 1834/9 by Hayne (& Cater)

The Service

We are pleased to be offering an excellent silver canteen in the very popular Fiddle, Thread & Shell Pattern. This service provides for the five major, 2 course dining pieces with enough to serve 12 people.

The spoons and forks were all made in the 1830’s by the same workshop. The spoons are all hallmarked London 1834 by Jonathan Hayne and the 24 forks are hallmarked London 1839 by Samuel Hayne & Dudley Cater. Jonathan Hayne was the brother of Samuel and Dudley Cater had been apprenticed to him.

All the spoons and forks have the unusual feature of bearing a double crest to the front terminals. The upper crest depicts a dove with olive branch and the lower a griffin erased.

The silver handled knives are fitted with stainless steel blades. The table knives were made in Sheffield 1841 by Joseph Rodgers and the dessert knives were made later to match by Tessiers Ltd (owned by Herbert & Lawrence Parsons)  in London 1939. The table knives are an especially welcome addition as knives from this period rarely survived in good condition: the blades will have replaced the rusted carbon steel originals. Presumably the original dessert knives fared less well and were replaced with new just prior to the 2nd World War.

Fiddle, Thread & Shell Pattern

Fiddle Pattern was the dominant flatware pattern of 19th Century Britain. It was by far the most popular pattern from 1810 until 1880 and a number of variants were introduced – the premier quality variant, adding both a thread edge and shell motifs, was called Fiddle, Thread & Shell. Because of the high relief and double-struck decoration used on this pattern, a thick gauge of silver was necessary to produce it, hence FT&S pieces tend to have a much heavier weight than their more restrained fiddle pattern counterparts. 

Components

This 60-piece service consists of the following:

Total weight of weighable silver 2890 grams (93 troy ounces) + the 24 silver handled knives.

Condition

Excellent original condition with very crisp double struck decoration. The forks have full and equal length tines and the spoons have good thick bowl tips. The table knife handles are a little more scratched than the other pieces, but remain in good, strong and usable condition. The crests are crisp throughout.

Presentation

This canteen is supplied in five new anti-tarnish cutlery rolls with individual pockets to hold 12 items per roll.

All our canteens are offered with a full money-back guarantee. We are also happy to send a sample place setting for approval, on receipt of a fully refundable surety payment - just phone or email your preferences. Alternatively, in-person viewings are welcome by appointment or via Zoom.