MARK OF JOHN PARKER AND EDWARD WAKELIN, LONDON, 1766

John Heathcote commissioned the toilet service shortly after his marriage to Lydia Moyer. It was on a sumptuous scale weighing 430 ounces and gilded at a cost of over £56.

The invoice the service is recorded in the Gentleman's Ledger

Folio 154 John Heathcote Esq.
Feb 28 1767
To a pr Nurle'd hand waiters with fluted bouget 10 oz. 13 dwt. 7/8 gr. £7 10s 9d
To graving 2 coats 7s
To 4 oval pierced salts 12 oz. 3 dwt. 5/8 gr. £3 9s
To making 15 each, Grav'g crests 2 Glasses 8 £13 10s
To 4 shell salt spoons with twisted handles 1 oz. 6 dwt. 13s 6d
Aprl 18
To a looking glass frame 53 oz. 6 dwt.
To a Jewells trunk 8 boxes 2 essence pots and a pair of figure candlesticks 277 oz. 3 dwt.
430 oz. 9 dwt. 9/8 gr. £208 1s
To 2 fine octagonal pierced trays 20oz. 14 dwt. 5/8 gr. £5 17s 4d To making @ £3 10s each £7
To gilding the whole wt 451 oz. 3 dwt. @ 2/6 per oz. £56 7s 9d
To graving 17 coats £6 7s
To cash pd for fashion of the lock and key of ye Jewells Trunk £1 1s
To Do for a looking glass and a mahogany back &c £2 10s
To a red morocco leather case with a drawer & 2 cushions £6 6s
To 2 blew glass lining and Gilding 2 philligree Cups £1 9s
£310 9s 4d'

A pair of dressing table jars from the service were sold Christie's, New York, 26 October 2007, lot 272.