Description

An extremely rare little antique silver milk jug of octagonal baluster form with a hinged lid and serpentine curved lip. Britannia standard silver. Very heavy gauge silver. Excellent patina. Hand engraved to the front is a lion rampant crest within a contemporary decorative cartouche. This is one of the earliest forms of milk jug and the style is very much like a contemporary coffee pot.

Weight 386 grams, 12.4 troy ounces.
Scratch weight ‘12.2.0’.
Height 15.5cm. Spread 12.5cm. Diameter of base 5.8cm.
London 1713.
Maker Anthony Nelme.

Octagonal examples are very rare and extremely desirable. The silver retaining screw to the base of the wooden handle is part of the original design.

Marks. Stamped underneath with a full set of English silver hallmarks, the lid with the Britannia mark.

*Britannia Standard. 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 and is always prized.

Literature: Milk wasn’t commonly taken in tea and coffee until the early eighteenth century and there are no milk jugs dating to before the Queen Anne period. Cream jugs without lids date from the 1720s onwards.

This little jug is in very good condition. The hand engraved armorial is contemporary and still crisp.

Maker: Anthony Nelme

Anthony Nelme, London silver maker, apprenticed to Richard Rowley 1672, turned over to Isaac Dighton , free 1679/80. 1st mark pre-1697 but entered on commencement of the new register. There is a previous unregistered? sterling mark recorded by Jackson dated 1691/2. Assistant to the Court of the Goldsmiths 1703, warden 1717 and 1723. Died circa 1723. His work showed signs of Hugeunot influence and his considerable output included many municipal pieces such as maces, as well as toilet services and other large pieces.

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