Antique Silver Candlesticks

Until the advent of piped gas into the home, & then later on electricity, particularly the availability of electric power to the majority of homes in the 20th Century, domestic lighting had been provided by the candle, which necessitated the use of candlesticks and candle holders.

The most common form of candle in poorer households in the 17th & 18th Century was the tallow candle, essentailly a bullrush that was dipped in animal fat and compressed in a metal instrument to make it harder and more more compact in a traditional candle type shape - one can only imagine what an awful smell they must have produced!

The more wealthy could afford to buy wax candles, which unlike todays very poor quality moulded candles were produced by repeatedly dipping the wick (often a double wick to reduce the liklihood of the candle being extinguished by drafts) into molten wax to build up a solid and very dense high quality candle.

You can see this process & buy these candles today from the incredible living Victorian museum at Blists Hill in the wonderous Ironbridge Gorge (I highly recommend you visit Ironbridge, Blists Hill & the other industrial museums there if you haven’t already - it is not only fascinating but incredibly beautiful).

Many candle holders and candlesticks were made from base metals such as brass & pewter, or from pottery, with major manufacturers like Wedgwood producing a monumental array of candlesticks in their creamware, pearlware, & jasperware bodies.

However, the candlestick of choice for the wealthy was of course made from silver, mainly as a show of wealth, but perhaps also because of the way that the soft, flickering candle light would have reflected off the precious metal.

The earliest silver candlesticks were made from sheet silver which was formed into shape and then decorated by hand with chasing and other forms of decoration.

Because sheet silver would be relatively thin the inside of the candlestick would often be filled with pitch or a similar heavy substance, certainly to make the candlestick appear to be solid silver by giving it some weight, and also to help it to remain stable and not become unwieldly when a candle was inserted.

Towards the end of the 17th Century silver candlesticks were produced by casting, meaning that much more silver was used in the candlestick. The casting process would normally see the candlestick base being cast in one piece, with the stem and candle holder being cast seperately as well.

These cast pieces would then be skillfully joined together to produce the finished candlestick.

Obviously for the manufacturer it is desirable to use the lowest amount of silver as possible to reduce manufacturing costs, and so in the 18th Century the candlestick reverted back to being produced from sheet silver.

The difference now though was that rather than the candlestick being raised by hand from sheet silver, it was machine cut by steel dies, and formed by machine much more rapidly than could be achieved by hand. Sheffield in particular was prevalent in the manufacture of machine made silver candlesticks in England.

These hollow ware candlesticks again needed to be weighted with pitch or other heavy material to make them useable and to make sure that the buyer believed they were getting something more substantial for their money, but this machine led process removed the need for skilled craftsmen to decorate the candlesticks, and made production much easier & faster resulting in a reduction in manufacturing costs of around 60% to 70% - a substantial saving.

Because of the very thin nature of the silver plate machine stamped silver candlesticks they are very easy to damage and very easily pick up dents, something that would not happen easily with cast silver candlesticks.

Because candlesticks were in use for such a long period of time there is a bewildering array of styles, shapes, and designs for collectors to consider, from simple and elegant rococo styles from the mid 1700’s, to the architectural splendour of neo classical designs from the late 18th Century, through to the sometimes confused and grandiose styles at the height of the Victorian era.

Antique silver candlesticks make a fascinating area of collecting that is affordable, enjoyable, and extremely satisfying.

Antique Silver Spoons

Antique silver spoons can be a great place to start collecting antique silver, since they are small & easy to display, are relatively modestly priced, and come in a great variety of styles and patterns, as well as giving you a good feel for how silver styles have changed over the years.

One of the best know types of antique silver spoon is the apostle spoon, which probably originated in the 15th Century.

Apostle spoons have a very distinctive look with a small figure of either Jesus or one of the apostles (St Andrew, St Bartholomew, St James The Greater, St James The Less, St. John, St Jude, St Matthias, St Matthew, St Paul, St Philip, St Simon Zelotes & St Thomas) as the finial.

Apostle spoons vary in rarity with some of the saints being much more prevalent than others.

Seal top spoons are another form of early spoon, dating from around the 16th & 17th Centuries, with an almost Tudor style column at the finial, which usually has a flat round disc at the end.

Slip top spoons are another early form of spoon from the 16th or 17th Century, and tend to have a characteristically early round bowl, with a tapering stem that is “cut off” at the end.

The very round bowl, solid stem, and large hallmarks, usually nearer to (and perhaps actually in) the bowl itself are all typical of early antique silver spoons, as is simplicity of design.

Another early form of antique silver spoon is the puritan spoon, which appeared around the end of the 17th Century, again it is a very simple design as with much early antique silver.

From the middle of the 17th Century the trefid spoon became popular, with a now flat stem and the typical termination, and also the dog nosed spoon appeared, both of which come in a variety of styles, which can include decorative “lace back” patterns.

It was around this time that the infamous rat tail appeared on the underside of the spoons bowl to strengthen the termination between the stem and the bowl, the rat tail can also be decorated, with beading for example.

The types of spoon and the patterns that can be found really increased quite dramatically from the 18th century onwards, giving antique silver spoon collectors an enormous amount of choice for their collections.

One other interesting feature of antique silver spoons is the transformation from a “turn down” to a “turn up” style of manufacture.

What this means is that the spoon was made (up to say 1770) to sit on the table with the bowl facing down towards the table (hence the decoration to the back of the bowl rather than to the front), and then later this was changed so that the bowl was facing up, at which point decoration tends to be to the front of the spoon. You also find this with antique silver forks.

This “turn up” or “turn down” style can be a good indicator of age, especially when considered with the position of hallmarks, etc.

As time went on the hallmarks gradually became smaller and less prominent, and moved towards the end of the stem away from the bowl, probably as a result of more elaborate styles and patterns becoming the main decoration on antique silver spoons.

Of course there are also lots of different types of spoons, from teaspoons, to dessert spoons, and a whole lot more in between, and some collectors may also try to build a collection of examples of antique silver spoons made by one maker, or perhaps from provincial assay offices, etc.

If you would like to add to this brief discussion of antique silver spoons, show off some of your collection, or anything else that you think might be of interest to collectors then please contact us & let us know!

Silver Antiques

These pages will bring you details on different silver antiques, like antique silver spoons, silver candlesticks, etc.