Object Description
A rare early English silver chamberstick (also known as a go to bed) with the solid design and excellent heavy gauge silver as you’d expect from this date. It has the early form with a flat teardrop handle and a broad drip pan mounted on three small stump feet. The circular base is hand engraved with a coat of arms within a decorative cartouche.
Weight 242 grams, 7.7 troy ounces.
Diameter 4.5cm. Length 23cm.
Britannia standard silver.
London 1711.
Maker Joseph Bird.
Marks. Stamped underneath with a full set of English silver hallmarks and scratch weight “8=5”. Owners initials “I.M” engraved below the handle.
*Britannia Standard. During 1696-1720 silversmiths were forbidden to use the sterling standard for their wares, but had to use a new higher standard, 95.8 per cent purity. New hallmarks were ordered, “the figure of a woman commonly called Britannia” and the lion’s head erased (torn off at the neck) replacing the lion passant and the leopard’s head crowned.
Maker: Joseph Bird
Joseph Bird, London silversmith, of the Brewers Company. Largeworker. 2 undated marks circa 1697. 3rd mark no date or address attributed. 4th (sterling) 1724. His mark is usually found on candlesticks.
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