English Britannia Sterling Silver Geo I Form Tea Caddy

This is a beautifully designed and masterfully hand crafted English Britannia standard George I form sliding cover tea caddy.

A stunning re-creation of a c1715 design. Waldron illustrates several near identical examples (page304).

From the not often observed Chester firm of J. Richard Attenborough & Co.

Date marked 1919.

The firm was listed from 1905 to 1940. Known for beautifully crafted silver in an array of forms. Including fine period re-creations such as this.

The George I form caddy is in classic octagonal form. Of all the caddy shapes, this is by far the most desirable.

Stepped upper rim and extended step base.

Retains the original hallmarked sliding cover, which fits along an interior set "rail". This is the identical cover design found on the original George I forms.

The cover topped with boldly fashioned stepped octagonal pavillion form finial, with raised urn cap.

Never monogrammed.

This is Britannia standard silver, which is 95.84% purity. Much higher than sterling which is 92.5%. Briefly, an act of Parliament in 1697 ruled that the Britannia standard replace sterling. This was an effort to decrease the melting of coins for crafting silverwares. In 1720 the sterling standard was resumed. Since then, the Britannia standard has re-appeared on several occasions, usually for commemorative events.

This extremely fine and rare English Britannia standard George I form sliding cover tea caddy is 3 inches by 2 1/4 and 5 1/2 inches tall. Exceptionally thick, heavy guage Britannia construction 8 1/2 ounces.

In excellent condition. Rich, lustreous silver patina throughout. Stands firm on table or serving tray. Few tiny shallow pinhead size bumps, not at all distracting.

Hallmarked as shown. Both cover and base matching hallmarks.

For the discerning collector of the finest turn of the century English Britannia standard silver. Focused upon superb re-creations of early Georgian period designs. An extremely fine and rare English Britannia standard George I form sliding cover tea caddy. In excellent condition.

Please feel free to inquire directly about this, or any item we've listed. Whether the item is alone or part of a set. We very much welcome your interest. We are collectors first. As such, we are quite easy to work with.

We happily combine items when shipping, saving you costs. We ship twice weekly, usually US Postal Priority. Fully insured for domestic packages, and air parcel overseas. We charge a bit more than actual cost for custom size boxes, shipping materials and to pay for professional packing.

We make great effort to accurately describe each item listed. Returns are accepted, if either condition, country of origin or dating is significantly incorrect. In such cases we refund your shipping costs as well. Like you, we are only human, and make mistakes. Hopefully, not too many.

Remember, the items you see are antiques. Hence, have an expected amount of wear from normal use. As such, returning an item because we failed to mention the tiniest bit of wear, or barely discernible flaw is not acceptable. Nor do we accept returns based on buyer's remorse. Nor change of taste, or because a buyer did not realize how "small" four inches might be once in hand.

Please note, Massachusetts residents are subject to sales tax.

We have over 5060 feedbacks. And, are quite proud of our plus 99.% rating.

For nearly ten years, our Seller rating was 99.9%. This past year it decreased to 99.3%.

This in no way reflects a change in our efforts to offer the finest service to our clients. More than one-third of whom are international buyers.

Instead, it is the direct result of an increasing number of Ebay "scam" artists. Buyers whom receive an item, then claim non-existent damages. Many of these refuse to return the item for full refund. Instead, they demand exorbitant partial refunds threatening a Pay Pal complaint and/or negative feedack when we refuse.

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In order to maintain a 100% rating, many sellers "cave in" to this sort of extortion.

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As a result, we receive the occasional, less than one in a hundred, negative feedback.

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We received favorable notice in the March 12th, 2006 New York Times. Page 8, Business Section, in a well written article on silver collecting. Copy furnished upon request.

From our personal collection, a fine mid 19th century coin silver basket by Edward & John Moore is illustrated in the cover article in May/June 2008 Silver Magazine.

Enjoy....and good fortune in your bidding.