The Early History Of Irish Silver

The Early History of Irish Silver

by

AndrewCampbell

Highly collectable and desirable, Irish metal work has been around since the thirteenth century and although goldsmiths were around in this period there is no mention of the actual formation of a guild or company until 1498 and it wasn’t until 1605 that mention is made of a makers mark or a town mark on a Dublin plate.

The laws for Irish silver were eventually set by Charles I in 1637, in his charter granted to the goldsmiths of Dublin he ruled, that no gold or silver was to be of less fineness than the standard of England.

The Irish parliament tightened things further in 1729 with the enactment that plate should be assayed by the assay master and bear the maker’s stamp, the harp crowned, and the date letter.

An additional fourth stamp was added in 1730, by order of the Commissioners of Excise, to denote that the duty had been paid.

Irish Assay Offices

Ireland had 5 main assay offices

1. Dublin

The Dublin Assay Office is the only remaining Irish Assay Office in use today. Up until 1923 the Dublin Assay Office was subjected to the same laws governing silver production in England and Scotland. The implementation of the Irish Free State in 1922 meant that laws were made and governed from Dublin, however the hallmarking system still remained pretty much the same and the use of the seated Hibernia figure was retained by the Dublin Assay Office as their Assay mark.

2. Cork

The city of Cork has never had a date letter. Before 1715 the city arms (a ship in full sail between two castles) was used with the makers mark. After this date however the only mark used at Cork was the word ‘Sterling’ accompanied by the makers initials. However often the word ‘sterling’ was replaced with ‘Dollar’, the word ‘Dollar’ is to inform that the silver was used for plate, much of it being melted down for Spanish silver dollars.

3. New Geneva

This small village near Watford assayed items using the harp as their Assay Office mark.

4. Limerick

The 17th century saw this Assay Office mark its silver with the fleur de lis.

5. Youghal

The 17th century saw this provincial assay office strike items with the town make of a single masted ship.

Finding Collectable Pieces

Many people collect silver by maker of the pieces, some popular makers you may come across when learning about or collecting Irish silver could be;

West & Son – They made some exceptional pieces including Victorian four piece coffee and tea pots services, as well as some fantastic teapots throughout the George VI reign. Many of which were made in the popular Queen Anne Style.

John Smith – He made pieces from the period of 1871 through to 1911 and mainly focused on loose items of flatware, such as spoons. However he also made some elaborate silver pieces such as Monteith bowls during the Victorian period.

A lot of collectors focus on a particular item instead of the maker. Irish silversmiths make a lot of sauceboats, ladles and flatware, at the smaller end of the scale yet they can then produce the most impressive embossed and highly chased salvers.

Not only is it the maker that can make the piece collectable, with Irish silver it is also where it is assayed. As Dublin is the only Assay office left if you can find pieces which were assayed outside of Dublin then the rarity of these pieces make them also highly collectable as they are very scarce.

Where to find Irish Silver?

If you simply want to view some Irish Silver and find out more about the craft, he National Museum of Ireland showcases one of the largest collections of Irish silver in the world. It also educated you on the assaying, mining and crafting of this precious metal.

However if you are looking at collecting Irish silver pieces you are best speaking to Lapada registered antique dealer and getting their advice on the best pieces to collect, depending on your reasons for collecting.

Andrew Campbell writes article for Acsilver.co.uk about antique sterling silver and diamond jewellery. For premium coffeee pots and tea sets, AC Silver is the choice. Find out about antique and vintage silver

teapots

and

coffee sets

today.

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The Early History of Irish Silver