This is an unusual silver-gilt dessert service as we don’t recall seeing another set which included 24 ice-cream eaters of plain design.

The set comprises:

24 Hanoverian thread-edge ice cream spoons, all of which are well marked for 1838 by Mary Chawner. These  have a little added interest in that they have various workman’s marks which the Chawners allowed the silversmiths working for them to put on the pieces to show who they were made by. They measure 16.4cm long.

Pair of Old English ice-cream serving spoons made in 1798 by Eley & Fearn They measure 17.9cm long.

Two Old English style grape scissors, both made in London by Eley & Fearn, one in 1821 (clear hallmarks on the blades), the other 1806 (hallmarks on the inside of the handle which are quite worn). They measure 17cm long.

24 Thread and shell cheese knives made in London in 1810 by Moses Brent, a specialist knife maker. Nearly all of them have 19th century steel blades made for Garrard. There is some staining and rust to these which is sadly a common problem with knives of this type but it is fun to have early blades which of course are very sharp. They measure 21cm long.

All the above pieces with the exception of the pair of grape scissors (which don’t have a flat surface for engraving) bear the crest of a collared lion’s head under a coronet for John Cust  (b.1779) who succeeded his father in 1807 as 2nd Baron Brownlow. The pieces in this canteen made before 1815 bear a baron’s coronet as in 1815 he was created 1st Earl Brownlow and Viscount Alford and the 24 ice-cream eaters consequently bear an Earl’s coronet instead.

 


£10,000