Pentecost Symons, Portsmouth silversmith, appears to have been a prolific West Country silversmith with many surviving pieces from the 18th Century bearing his mark. He produced a variety of plate – from domestic wares to Church Plate silver. The range and number of items suggests that he employed a number of craftsmen to work for him – but Symons would have overseen the design and manufacture of the pieces.
The south west had a thriving silversmith community in the 18th century, including names such as Pentecost Symons, Samuel Blatchford and Zacchariah Williams, and an assay office was set up in Exeter in 1700.