Silver with Noble and Literary Connections Takes Centre Stage

Roseberys presents its first Silver auction of 2025, featuring historic pieces of silverware from the 1700s to the present day. The sale includes pieces by renowned makers, including Paul Storr, Pavel Ovchinnikov and Tiffany & Co., and includes a strong selection of silver gilt wares. 

Leading the sale is a George II silver salver by Augustine Courtauld, made in London in 1732 and engraved with  the arms of the Thornycroft family. Courtauld was the son of a Huguenot refugee who fled France after the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Trained under the Huguenot goldsmith Simon Pantin, Courtauld became one of the period’s leading silversmiths, producing works for Empress Elizabeth of Russia and Empress Catherine I. One of his most significant pieces, The State Salt of the Corporation of the City of London, is displayed at Mansion House.

Another highlight is a set of twelve George III silver gilt plates by John Wakelin & William Taylor, engraved with the arms of Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle. Howard, a statesman and Knight of the Garter, was deeply involved in government, serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Lord Privy Seal. He was also appointed a commissioner to negotiate with America in 1778. His connections to the Byron family were notable—he was the guardian of his cousin, the poet Lord Byron, who later satirised him in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. Byron’s half-sister Augusta often resided at Castle Howard, further linking the families.

The auction also features a pair of silver-mounted Dragon of Wantley table lighters, each embossed with ‘Ye Dragon of Wantley.’ The Dragon of Wantley is a Yorkshire legend about a monstrous, bat-winged dragon that devoured trees, buildings, and people before being slain by the knight More of More Hall. Unlike traditional heroic tales, this legend is comedic—the knight, inebriated and clad in a specially made suit of Sheffield steel, defeats the dragon by kicking it in its only weak spot. The tale was popularised in a 1685 ballad and later adapted into an opera by Henry Carey in 1787. The lighters, with each dragon resting a foot on a grenade, are believed to have military associations and may have been used in officers’ mess halls.

Also of note is a 19th-century silver dessert spoon with connections to Admiral Horatio Nelson and Jane Austen. The Fiddle pattern spoon is engraved with coronets and a crest for Hilaire Knight, who was married to Nelson’s brother from 1829 to 1835 before later marrying Jane Austen’s nephew, George Thomas Knight of Goodnestone Park.

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For media enquiries please contact: aliciaglenn@roseberys.co.uk

Operating in London for more than 30 years, Roseberys Fine Art Auctioneers is a privately owned specialist fine art and antiques auction house and valuers, located in the heart of South London.

The team of world renowned experts and consultants offer both buyers and sellers a range of specialist art market services and a calendar of over 30 specialist auctions a year covering all areas of Asian Arts, Islamic & Indian Art, Jewellery & Watches, Old Master, 18th & 19th Century Art, Modern British & Contemporary British Art, Urban & Contemporary Prints & Multiples, 20th Century Art & Design, Impressionist, Modern, Post War & Contemporary Art and Decorative Arts, Fine & Decorative sales including Silver, Ceramics, Works of Art and Furniture.

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