Lot Essay
The dessert servers are engraved with the Royal badge and monogram EDC for Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1771-1851), fifth son of George III.
The fish slice is engraved with the cypher CR of Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and the monogram AS, of Princess Augusta Sophia, their daughter. Queen Charlotte bequeathed this fish slice, along with other silver, to her daughter. When Augusta Sophia died in 1848, she left her estate to her brother Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover. This fish slice is included in the inventory of royal silver sold by the Duke of Cumberland's descendants, described as one of two Fischlöffel, and purchased by the Viennese dealer Glückselig in 1924.
Both the dessert servers and the fish slice are also engraved with EAFs, for "Ernest Augustus Fidekommiss," or "held in trust," signifying that these pieces of plate were part of the Duke of Cumberland's entailed estate.
Ernest Augustus took with him to Hanover a considerable quantity of Royal plate, some of it dating from the time of the Stuarts, to add to the plate already at Herrenhausen. A claim was made by Queen Victoria for the return of certain of the Royal plate and jewels, which was successfully ignored for much of her reign. The use of initials to signify entailed property was common practice among the German ruling houses. For example, it appears as FiDC on a set of dinner plates, Berlin, 1821-1841 (The Patiño Collection, Christie's, New York, October 28, 1986, lot 244) and on table silver engraved with the arms of Mecklenberg-Schwerin in a private collection. In Roman law Fidei Commissum is a bequest which a person makes by begging his heir or trustee to transfer something to a third party.
On the death of Ernest Augustus, his son, George Frederick, succeeded to Hanover but was deposed during the Seven Weeks War in 1866. The Prussian troops sacked Herrenhausen but failed to find the Royal plate, which had been hidden in a vault in the grounds and covered with lime and debris. (see E. Alfred Jones, "The Duke of Cumberland's Collection of Old English Plate," The National Review, January, 1920, pp. 679-685). Subsequently the family used the title Duke of Brunswick. A significant portion of the Hanoverian plate was dispersed by Crichton Bros. in 1924 and 1925.
The fish slice is engraved with the cypher CR of Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and the monogram AS, of Princess Augusta Sophia, their daughter. Queen Charlotte bequeathed this fish slice, along with other silver, to her daughter. When Augusta Sophia died in 1848, she left her estate to her brother Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover. This fish slice is included in the inventory of royal silver sold by the Duke of Cumberland's descendants, described as one of two Fischlöffel, and purchased by the Viennese dealer Glückselig in 1924.
Both the dessert servers and the fish slice are also engraved with EAFs, for "Ernest Augustus Fidekommiss," or "held in trust," signifying that these pieces of plate were part of the Duke of Cumberland's entailed estate.
Ernest Augustus took with him to Hanover a considerable quantity of Royal plate, some of it dating from the time of the Stuarts, to add to the plate already at Herrenhausen. A claim was made by Queen Victoria for the return of certain of the Royal plate and jewels, which was successfully ignored for much of her reign. The use of initials to signify entailed property was common practice among the German ruling houses. For example, it appears as FiDC on a set of dinner plates, Berlin, 1821-1841 (The Patiño Collection, Christie's, New York, October 28, 1986, lot 244) and on table silver engraved with the arms of Mecklenberg-Schwerin in a private collection. In Roman law Fidei Commissum is a bequest which a person makes by begging his heir or trustee to transfer something to a third party.
On the death of Ernest Augustus, his son, George Frederick, succeeded to Hanover but was deposed during the Seven Weeks War in 1866. The Prussian troops sacked Herrenhausen but failed to find the Royal plate, which had been hidden in a vault in the grounds and covered with lime and debris. (see E. Alfred Jones, "The Duke of Cumberland's Collection of Old English Plate," The National Review, January, 1920, pp. 679-685). Subsequently the family used the title Duke of Brunswick. A significant portion of the Hanoverian plate was dispersed by Crichton Bros. in 1924 and 1925.