A GEORGE I SILVER CUP AND COVER

MARK OF GEORGE WICKES, LONDON, CIRCA 1722

Details

A GEORGE I SILVER CUP AND COVER
MARK OF GEORGE WICKES, LONDON, CIRCA 1722
Vase-shaped, on a spreading foot, the lower body applied with foliage, with a central reeded band and two leaf-capped handles, the cover with a baluster finial, the body finely engraved with a coat-of-arms in baroque cartouche, the cover engraved with a crest, marked under base with maker's mark and cancelled earlier transposed hallmarks, the cover apparently unmarked
10 in. (25.4 cm.) high; 50 oz. (1,550 gr.)
The arms are those of Harvey impaling those of Williams, probably for George Harvey in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, who married Elizabeth Williams in 1719. George Harvey does not appear to have been entitled to these arms and probably appropriated them improperly, as was common in the 18th century.

Provenance

Probably supplied to George Harvey and his wife Elizabeth Williams in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

Exhibited

Manor House Museum, Bury St. Edmunds, George Wickes of Bury St. Edmunds (1698 - 1761) Royal Goldsmith, 1998, cat. no. 8

Lot Essay

The present cup is only struck with the maker's mark and a cancelled sterling standard mark. It is probable that George Wickes cut the marks from a smaller piece and then inserted them into the base of the cup. Therefore he would not have submitted the cup to the Goldsmiths' Hall for assay, thus avoiding the duty of 6d per ounce of silver that was payable. Such 'duty dodgers' saved the silversmith approximately 10 of the final cost of the piece. In order to sell objects of this nature the hallmarks must be cancelled by the Assay office, leaving only the makers mark.

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