Description

A handsome early English silver mug with a slightly baluster shape on a spreading foot. Good plain style typical of the period. Dainty size, suitable as a christening mug. The slightly hand beaten finish is very charming.

Contains 300 ml.
Weight 196 grams, 6.3 troy ounces.
Height 9.1cm (to top of thumb piece). Spread 10.6cm. Diameter 6.9cm.
London 1716.
Maker Richard Bayley.
Britannia standard silver.

Marks. Stamped underneath with a full set of English silver hallmarks.

Britannia Standard silver is 95.8% pure. In 1696, so extensive had become the melting and clipping of coinage that the silversmiths were forbidden to use the sterling standard for their wares, but had to use a new higher standard, 95.8 per cent pure. New hallmarks were ordered, “the figure of a woman commonly called Britannia” and the lion’s head erased (torn off at the neck) replacing the lion passant and the leopard’s head crowned. This continued until the old standard of 92.5 per cent was restored in 1720. Britannia standard silver still continues to be produced even today.

Literature. The term “mug” is traditionally used for a single-handed, lidless drinking vessel. They are nearly all of either pint or half pint capacity. Antique silver mugs are very rarely found as early as tankards, the earliest seeming to date from about 1680.