Object Description
A good early English silver lidded tankard of tapering flat sided form with coopered banding. The S scroll handle finishes in a decorative thumb piece and has ornamental strap work. Britannia standard silver*. Uninscribed. Owners initials engraved on the handle. Good patina. Contains 1200 ml. Weight 764 grams, 24.5 troy ounces. Height 18.2 cm (to top of thumb piece). Spread 19.5 cm. Diameter 11.5 cm (top), 12.7 cms (base). London 1715. Maker Seth Lofthouse.
Biography – Seth Lofthouse, London silversmith, apprenticed to William Wakefield of the Merchant Taylor’s Company 1676. Freedom not recorded. Mark entered as largeworker in 1699. William Bellasis apprenticed to him in 1709. Listed as dead in the Haberdashers’ Company records of 1727.