Description

A rare early English antique silver coffee pot of straight tapering form with a domed lid typical of the period. Britannia standard silver*. Side handle. Large size and good weight. Nice plain style with contemporary strapwork mounts and ornate thumb piece. Particularly attractive is the decorative silver mount to the wooden handle and the little hinged flap on the end of the spout.

Contains 850 ml.
Weight 753 grams, 24.2 troy ounces.
Height 25cm. Diameter 6.5cm (top), 10.3cm (base).
London 1711.
Maker Anthony Nelme.

Marks. Stamped on the side of the body with a full set of English silver hallmarks – makers’ mark “Ne”, date letter, lions head erased, Britannia mark. Stamped with the lion mark to the inside of the lid.

*Britannia Standard silver. 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. 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. Coffee and chocolate were established as part of social life by the end of the century and coffee pots can be found from the 1680’s onwards. Initially, these tall form pots (as averse to the squatter teapot shape) were used for both coffee and chocolate however we term chocolate pots to be those with either a removable finial or removable lid for inserting a swizzle stick. We also nominate some early side handled pots as chocolate pots.