Silver Tipster

Hand Mirrors Popular Again

2012-01-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

The dressing table mirror is the ‘comeback’ item in a recent Kate Shapland beauty notebook for the Telegraph Magazine (10 December 2011). Remember them? A mirror with a long elegant handle, set in wood, glass or silver, that allows you to see your latest hairdo from the back if you hold it up to another mirror. At the London Silver Vaults there are some delightful hand mirrors to buy, either in decorated silver or with enamelled backs in whites, blues and greens. They date back to late Victorian times or the more recent Edwardian era and they were still being made in the 1960s. Prices are around the £200 mark or even half that for something less ornate. A very special Valentine’s Day present.

Silver Christmas gifts for your favourite cook

2011-12-01T01:32:00.000-08:00

Buy an antique silver gadget for the cook or chef in your life and they will be deeply impressed. Cooks since the Georgian times in England have been using silver for cooking and serving their meals because of its special properties: it doesn’t taint the food, it heats up quickly and it cleans easily. They warmed their brandy (for pouring onto Christmas puddings) and sauces in silver pans, made toasted cheese delicacies in silver dishes, ladled the soups out of silver tureens, sifted icing or caster sugar (onto their mince pies) and strained orange juice into the mulled wine.

Here is an A-Z OF SILVER CULINARY EQUIPMENT which is both unique and useful and can be bought at the London Silver Vaults in Chancery Lane, London. Examples are on display in The Cook's Kitchen exhibition until the end of January 2012.

CHEF'S SILVER
Basting spoons – Georgian examples are very collectable. Great as serving spoons.
Brandy warmers – small pans with a lip for pouring and usually a wooden handle.
Chafing dish – a lidded dish, insulated to keep contents warm.
Dish cross – a raised silver dish holder with a central burner, for keeping food hot at the table.
Gravy strainer – to strain out any lumps from meat juice or gravy.
Meat skewer – for use with a boned and rolled joint of meat, mostly mid-Georgian.
Nutmeg grater - popular during the period 1780-1840.
Sugar caster - for refined sugar, with a removable, pierced lid. 1850s onwards.
Tea caddy spoons - from the 1770s onwards but mostly 1800s and up to the 1940s.
Tea infuser – for making tea, and infusing spices into sauces.

PRESENTATION
Asparagus - tongs and serving sets
Breakfast Dish – large scrolling lidded serving dish for serving the bacon & eggs.
Entrée dish – a fairly shallow, lidded serving dish for meat or vegetables, used on the table or buffet.
Ham Stand - for holding a cooked ham for carving. Magnificent example in the show.
Mazarine - an oval pierced plate used in serving fish (or meat). 18th century onwards.
Meat dish & cover – often with a ‘sunken well & tree’ to catch the juices.
Muffin dish – created especially to keep muffins hot, straight from the griddle.
Soup tureen – these first came into vogue in the early 18th century.

SPECIALIST CUTLERY FOR COOKING, SERVING,EATING
Carving sets – elegant set of carving knife, fork and steel.
Cold meat servers – with flat grips to pick up slices easily, and with a scissor-action.
Fish slice – for serving a whole fish at the table. later Georgian period onwards.
Knife rest – traditionally used to rest the carving knife on when not in use
Lobster picks & crackers
Pastry forks – with three tines/prongs, one of which is wider to cut through pastry. Marrow scoop or spoon – designed to scoop out the cooked marrow from a bone.
Serving sets – knife and large fork, or trowel-shaped server for cakes and tarts.
Sugar Nips or Tongs.
Toasting fork – with a long, extendable handle, used to toast bread (or marsh mallows) at the fireside.

ON THE TABLE
Argyll (Argyle) – an insulated jug to keep gravy or sauce warm.
Butter boat – a small boat-shaped serving dish for pouring melted butter at table.
Carafe or decanter – a more glamourous way to serve wine or port at table.
Condiment set – usually comprising mustard, pepper and salt pots.
Cream jug – typically small upright or boat style jug for pouring cream at table.
Cruet sets – comprising three, four or more (sometimes eight) silver stoppered glass bottles.
Egg coddler – a small, deep lidded dish containing a holder for cooking four eggs
Gravy boat – typically boat-shaped for pouring sauce or gravy.
Oil & vinegar sets – more popular from the late Victorian period.
Sugar caster – to dredge sugar on fruit or cakes or mince pies.
Salt cellars – traditionally lined in Bristol blue glass as salt tarnishes pure silver.
Spoon warmers – often in shell or cornucopia form.

Vote Silver Vaults Best Antiques Shop

2011-10-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

To mark National Antiques Week 14 to 21 November 2011, Homes & Antiques magazine is asking antiques fans to vote for their best antiques shopping spots. There are five categories to choose from. No more than 50 words needed. And you could win a prize for nominating. Such as an Overnight stay at the Royal Crescent Hotel, Bath, worth £375.

To get the form click here or find out more from the Silver Vaults news room. We hope that one of your Silver Vaults dealers will be your choice or maybe you think the London Silver Vaults itself is the best antiques shop ever. It's certainly has the biggest stock of silver in the country!

End Date is 30th November 2011. The winning shops will be announced by Kirstie Allsopp at the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair on 8th March 2012.

Dining in Style at the Silver Vaults

2011-10-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

When his owner went to see the Cook’s Kitchen selling exhibition of
silver at the London Silver Vaults (opened 3 October) there was a little
culinary treat waiting outside for Nelson the bulldog. Served in a silver bowl
of course. Well the Silver Vaults is the biggest antique silver shop in the world.

Silver and A Special Relationship

2011-09-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

What do Goldie Hawn, Joan Rivers and Barbara Walters have in common? A great sense of humour? Not sure about Barbara. Well in fact they are all American girls who at various times popped over from the US and dropped into the London Silver Vaults in Chancery Lane to do a little silver shopping. They are amongst generations of Americans who first began this special relationship with English quality silver after the war, when many GIs were still stationed here. At that time us Brits were still trying to get some rationed butter to put on our rationed bread, rather than splashing out on a shiny lifestyle. We have caught up a bit now and rather like a dash of glamorous silver about the home.

Meanwhile, also discovering the appeal of English silver is another American, the young editor of An American Girl in Chelsea, the ‘chic guide for American women in London’. She particularly likes the Silver Vaults for wedding gifts to get away from that Wedding List sameyness. And she is rather taken with some of the antique culinary silver that is in the next selling exhibition at the Vaults in The Cook’s Kitchen show, starting in October.

Desserts Boum!

2011-06-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

Cocktails are so yesterday declares
that style maitresse Harpers Bazaar this month
because it seems the ‘fashion crowd now head
to one of London’s chic dessert bars for a rendezvous.’
Could it be that one of their researchers popped into
the London Silver Vaults off Midtown’s Chancery Lane
and saw the Just Desserts exhibition of silver that no
self respecting dessert hostess could ignore. So when
you’ve sampled the English liqueurs and ice-cream
at the Waldorf Astoria or been colour blocked by
Ladurees macaroons in their new salon in Covent Garden, you
can try your hand at dessert parties at home. Just don’t forget
a dash of silver. And by the way, according to that uber sylist,
Wallpaper magazine, macaroons are, je regrette, a little passé,
it’s now the turn of the cream puff or chou à la crème. First stop
café Popelini, rue Debelleyrne in Paris, of course.
Just Desserts selling exhibiton June to end September 2011. Catalogue

SAVE OUR SILVER HALLMARKS

2011-04-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

The ‘Red Tape Challenge’ launched by the Government on 7 April is designed to do away with any superfluous rules and regulations that make commerce more difficult than necessary. One of the regulations being ‘challenged’ is the requirement for all precious metals to be tested independently for adequate metal content. This is known as hallmarking, the name derived from the first assay office, Goldsmith’s Hall in London. (The London Silver Vaults's logo (shown) depicts the current London hallmark,
the leopard's head.

As reported in this week’s Antiques Trade Gazette (21 April 2011) the Birmingham and London Assay Offices have countered the ‘challenge’ to hallmarking with an appeal for people to log onto the Government Red Tape Challenge site and make their objections known. You have until 5 May 2011.

There are aleady more comments logged on this subject than for changing the Sunday Trading laws.

Rather than stifling enterprise, the independent hallmarking of precious metals carried out by Assay offices, could be claimed to promote enterprise and industry because it guarantees a consistent level of quality for gold and silver objects. A silversmith today who produces a silver object such as a vase or a set of cutlery, just like British silversmiths since the end of the 12 century, submits their work to be assayed. This way the ultimate purchaser is guaranteed silver of the required 92.5 per cent proof sterling silver quality which cannot be confused with inferior silver, silver plate, chrome, nickel or any base metal.

The customer is also told through the various ‘marks’ who made the piece, what date it was made and where it was assayed. It is one of the cleverest methods of quality control in manufacture and has contributed to British silver’s unrivalled reputation throughout the world. People who shop at the London Silver Vaults, for instance, know everything they buy there is as described by its hallmarks. Whether silver is antique or modern, it carries its history with it. This protects both silversmith, retailer and customer and should not be changed.

Silver value doubles in a year

2011-04-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

According to Kitco www.kitcosilver.com the web page for investors in precious metals, silver doubled in value over the last year. To be precise it rose 122 per cent to where it sits now at around $40 an ounce or nearly £25. Metals and particularly gold, which now fetches a mind boggling $1400 or so an ounce, are seen as a good hedge against weak currencies and general economic turbulence.

Vintage silver objects such as one can buy at the UK’s biggest retailer of
antique silver, the London Silver Vaults are currently remarkably good value ounce for ounce against their bullion counterparts. But the strength of silver bars is likely to pull up the price of handmade or manufactured silver as demand for silver increases. So now might be the time to add some silver loveliness to the home and watch your possession become even shinier.

Jewellery Ideas for Mum on April 3

2011-03-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

The London Silver Vaults in Chancery Lane (open Monday thru Saturday till 1pm) is not only ‘the home of silver shopping’ with lots of ideas for adding a dash of silver to your kitchen dining area but is also home to specialist jewellery shops and jewellery collections. A new collection, exclusive in London to Nat Leslie at Vault 21 (Tel 0207 242 4787) is from award winning Scottish jewellery designer Sheila Fleet. Sheila’s designs for earrings and necklaces draw on her Orkney land- and seascapes. The 2011 ‘moonlight’ collection at Nat Leslie’s features pretty opals on ripples of silver or gold for necklaces and earrings, evocative of the moon reflecting on water. Another very simple silver necklace with pendants is entitled ‘slate standing stones’. Anthony Green Antiques and Wolfe Jewellery (Tel 020 7405 2101)at the Silver Vaults specialise in vintage watches and jewellery and Belmont Jewellers has lots of ideas (and discounts) for Mother’s Day gifts. Open daily from 9am to 5.30pm, Saturday 9am until 1pm. Tel: 020 7242 3844. Nearest Tube Chancery Lane

Silver Antique of the Week: Statement Gems

2011-03-01T04:25:00.000-08:00

The London style magazines during Fashion Week were showcasing statement gems that incorporate tutti-frutti clusters of contrasting coloured stones. In keeping with the vibrant colour-blocking going on this Spring in clothes and interiors, jewellery too has got in on the act. Jewellery houses and high street fashion shops are offering over-the-top earring, necklace, ring and bangle styles with mix & match groups of gems; amethyst, topaz, peridot – the brighter the better. Several dealers at The London Silver Vaults feature beautiful jewellery. We found this particular 18ct white gold vintage ring set with a crazy cluster of pearls, coloured diamonds Citrine. Topaz, Pink Sapphire and Amethyst at Anthony Green Antiques. It’s a 1970s cocktail ring. We think it rocks!

Breakfast and a dash of silver

2011-02-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

Weekend brunches are as popular as ever at restaurants, but why not aim to enjoy your own ‘five star’ breakfast at home each weekend by snapping up some traditional silver tableware for a bit of extra style?

A new selling exhibition at the London Silver Vaults in London’s Chancery Lane is on now until the end of May 2011 and has all the items you could think of, and some you will never have heard of, for a proper 'full English'.

Expect to find lots of tea- and coffee pots, familiar Old English style silver cutlery, toast racks, butter knives, butter dishes and jam pots. More suprising is the 1930s rollover silver dish for keeping the cooked food warm, an insulated Argyll jug for keeping liquids warm, spoon warmers and egg coddlers, little silver combo sets for boiled eggs with a spoon and bowl for the salt and pepper and even modern silver tops for Marmite and ketchup jars.

Breakfast and particularly teapots seem to have inspired the silversmith's flights of fancy over the years. Moving into the surreal there is a very rare tea-set of teapot, jug and sugar bowl all in the shape of chickens (see pic). Another tea-set is shaped like garden snails. For the coffee drinkers there are pretty, lemon coloured ceramic espresso cups with silver saucers, designed in 2005 or cafe au lait pots in hammered silver from the turn of the century Arts & Crafts era. Rise and Shine - Silver at the Breakfast table is on until the end of May in the downstairs foyer of the 30 shops at the London Silver Vaults in Chancery Lane, London WC2, a few hundred yards from Chancery Lane Tube.
Prices are from £45 to £4,500 with most items under £500.

TOP FIVE VINTAGE SILVER VALENTINE PICKS

2011-01-28T01:56:00.000-08:00

Here’s our top five picks for Valentine’s Day gifts from the London Silver Vaults’ cast of thousands. Buy her some gorgeous, colourful chunky jewellery. Try Belmont William Walter or Wolfe for semi-precious and precious stones in silver and gold settings as rings, necklaces or bracelets. shown here Seed pearls, peridot and gold earrings and bracelet by Wolfe Buy her pretty enamelled perfume bottles, hand mirrors, picture frames or trinket boxes in bright fruit drop colours at Linda Jackson, Choose a mirror or picture frame. Virtually every dealer has silver frames, heart shapes for her, ships for him. Three unusual picture frames by Barry Collins. The choice is huge.

For him there are vintage watches from all the big watch brands like, Rolex, Omega, or Patek Philippe. This stunning Omega Constellation with a solid gold waterproof casing in its original 1950s red leather box is from Anthony Green. And also for him a glass and silver claret jug is both a sophisticated object to own and a great way to accessorise the Shiraz. Most of the dealers sell these and Stephen Kalms has some very striking examples from the 19th and 20th centuries. Find the contact details for all the dealers and their specialities under Shop Details on the Silver Vaults website.

UNIQUE SILVER GIFTS FOR WEDDINGS

2011-01-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

For couples getting married in 2011 here's a thought for putting a little sparkle into the wedding list. Once you've settled on the shop for the pots and pans take yourselves off to the London Silver Vaults in London's historic legal centre, Chancery Lane and dive into an Aladdin's cave of silvery things that would look just fabulous whether you are starting in a prefab or a palace.

You could set up a wedding list with one of the cutlery specialists. Then guests can buy into a clasically sleek 'English pattern' cutlery set a fork at a time. Or what about silver goblets? You can get C20th matching sets or you could ask people to put their giving towards six individual Georgian or Victorian goblets. Or choose a silver and cutglass claret jug and suggest fractional contributions until you have the whole thing.

And if there is one item where silver really scores in the home setting it is candlesticks or candelabra. Candlelight reflecting off silver is quite stunning. Vintage or modern can be found at the Silver Vaults at prices from around £180 depending on style and date.

The added attraction of vintage silver, apart from its good looks, is that every piece is unique and carries its own built-in sign of quality and authenticity through the hallmark stamps. These denote maker, date and place of creation. So extra special ways to choose a gift of silver can be to buy a picture frame for example that was made the year one of you was born or the date your parents married or your grandparents; you can of course buy new silver with this year's hallmark date stamp. And most silver items can be engraved with your initials or a wedding day message.

If you can't get to London, there are ideas galore to be had through the websites of the dealers at the London Silver Vaults.

Silver Gifts for Him and Her

2010-12-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

Only two shopping days left before Christms but if you have still to buy a present for your significant other try the London Silver Vaults, (Chancery Lane Tube), for inspiration. Here you can buy gifts that you won't find on the High Street because nearly every item for sale is unique, certainly the older silver treasures are. Have a look at our two pages of gift ideas. For Her there are silver candlesticks, picture frames and pretty silver boxes aswell as items for the Christmas table and entertaining. For Him we suggest silver claret jugs, collectables like smokers accessories, and beautifully designed modern silver desk sets. The 30 shops at The London Silver Vaults are open until 5.30pm Thursday 23rd and on Christmas Eve.

The Cocktail Hour. Party Silver and Christmas Gift Ideas

2010-10-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

There will be plenty of gorgeous silver on display in The London Silver Vaults’ Cocktail Hour exhibition which runs from October until the end of January 2011. The silver in the exhibition can all be bought from the dealers in the Vaults.

So get ready to dazzle your guests with silver goblets from Victorian times or stunning double ended wine coolers from the Georgian era. Mix your cocktails in a 1930s recipe cocktail shaker or stir those Martinis with gilt, gold or silver swizzle sticks. And get in the mood for partying with ‘dress’ jewellery for Him and Her. The carriage clock is set for 6 o’clock – The Cocktail Hour!

The London Silver Vaults is open to shoppers six days a week, 9 - 5.30pm daily and 9 - 1pm Saturdays. Nearest Tube: Chancery Lane. Buses from Oxford Street. www.thesilvervaults.com

Silver nutmeg graters spice up auction world

2010-08-05T04:42:00.000-07:00

An important international collection of antique silver nutmeg graters has recently been sold at auction, with some items fetching premium prices, reports the Antiques Trade Gazette These charmingly small collector’s items come in some unusual forms, such as a strawberry, a clam shell, an acorn, even a cup and cover – it was these unusual shapes which fetched the highest prices at the auction, held by Lawrence’s of Crewkerne (UK).

At the London Silver Vaults, the current specialist selling exhibition of silver boxes includes several fine examples of nutmeg graters, such as this 1881 melon-shaped grater and an egg shaped nutmeg holder dating back to 1793, both from Gideon Cohen at the Vaults

The ATG helpfully provides a bit of history about nutmeg graters, explaining how it was the fashion for punch that occasioned the onset of nutmeg mania in the C17th, and the manufacture of the now highly collectable silver smallwork, the pocket nutmeg grater. Throughout the following two centuries, as the upper echelons of society imbibed the exotic mix of lime, spices and alcohol, it became de rigeur to carry about the person a vessel to store one or more kernels and pep the brew with shavings of the sweet rich nut.

The most expensive nutmeg grater sold in the auction was an early C19th silver gilt example by Philip Rundell which included the cipher of King George IV – it fetched a sum approaching five figures. You can read more about the nutmeg grater collection in this weeks Antiques Trade Gazette (cover date 7 August 2010).

£2.2m record price for English silver

2010-07-20T05:35:00.000-07:00

A record price for a piece of silver was set this month when a 300 year old Queen Anne wine cooler fetched a very cool £2.2 million at auction in London. It was originally commissioned in 1705 by Baron Raby as part of his ambassadorial plate when he was Ambassador to the King of Prussia. But it then disappeared from the records until a Sotheby’s researcher discovered that it had been inherited by the present Marquis of Lothian.

The silver 'cistern' as it is correctly known, would keep any embassy party in full swing with its magnificent capacity. It weighs 11 ½ stone and is 4ft 3in wide (1.3m). It was bought by a private buyer from Asia.

But there is a chance left for today’s embassies that may be feeling the pinch. By coincidence, silver dealers I Franks at the
London Silver Vaults last year commissioned a similar sized wine cistern (pictured). Hallmarked at the London assay office it is almost the same width but about half the weight and can be snapped up at a more modest £85,000.

Battle of Waterloo Box in New Silver Exhibition

2010-06-24T01:29:00.000-07:00

This summer's selling exhibition at The London Silver Vaults, Chancery Lane, London WC2, is a wonderful opportunity for novice collectors and specialists alike to acquire small but covetable antique and C20th silver items at prices from around £100up to £10,000.

A major highlight of the exhibition is a rare collector’s item and piece of military history: a silver gilt cigar box, understood to have been a presentation gift made in 1855 to surviving officers who fought at the Battle of Waterloo. Made by John Harris of London, the Latin motto on the front reads 'I favour the brave'. On the reverse is engraved the standard of the 1st Royal Dragoons cavalry regiment, an eagle and the word, Waterloo. The cigar box is offered for sale by M. Sedler and is priced at £2500.

Other interesting silver boxes include:

- a Queen Anne commemorative patch box, probably a memento of her coronation, made by Thomas Kedder, dated circa 1702, priced at £695. (Linden & Co)
- a charming Victorian silver nutmeg holder with grater, in the form of a nutmeg, inscribed "D C P Christmas 1882" (42mm long, weight 21.8gm) Hilliard & Thomason of Birmingham, £1495. (Gideon Cohen)
- a pair of sterling silver table card boxes with a cat and dog modelled on lids, and box base to hold calling cards (lid hinged to side), 1907 by Berthold Müller, £3500. (Bryan Douglas)
- an exquisitely carved Chinese tortoiseshell box of the late C19th. (S&J Stodel)
- a rare antique silver jewellery box in the form of a grand piano, a hidden velvet-lined drawer pops open when you depress the piano pedals! London, 1905, £2785. (Silstar Antiques Ltd)

Boxing Clever runs until the end September 2010

See the Boxing Clever picture gallery and catalogue at www.thesilvervaults.com

Chess set made from Nelson’s HMS Victory

2010-06-17T02:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a little bit of history, literally: a specially commissioned chess set has been created in collaboration with Diarmuid Byron-O'Connor, the sculptor. The very lifelike chess pieces are the English Navy on one side, led by Lord Admiral Nelson and cast in silver. The French on the other side, led by Villeneuve, the naval officer in charge of the French fleet, are cast in silver and then gilded.

But the the squares of the chess board are made from certified oak and mahogany taken from the original HMS Victory - on which Nelson served - when the ship was refitted in 1905. The copper corners on the board are from the copper plating on the original ship's hull. The chess set featured in the recent selling exhibition called Silver in the Study at the London Silver Vaults and is available from Langfords’ shop at the Silver Vaults, Chancery Lane WC2A 1QS.

Byron-O’Connor is best known for his Peter Pan statue outside Great Ormond Street Hospital.

London Silver Vaults in Best 50 Antiques Shops List

2010-03-30T06:35:00.000-07:00

The Independent newspaper's The Information section last weekend (Sat 20 March) chose
The London Silver Vaults as one of its Best 50 Antiques Shops. 'In this remarkable centre there are some 30 dealers in antique and contemporary silver of every kind from tableware to candelabra,' says John Andrews. 'It's a great place to shop for anything silver for gifts both large and small.'

On the panel of experts making the selection were Mark Dodgson, secretary general of the British Association of Antique Dealers (www.bada.org); John Ainsley, editor of ‘Antiques Info’ (www.antiques-info.co.uk); John Andrews, editor of ‘Antique Collecting’ magazine’ (www.antiquecollectorsclub.com)and Fiona Ford of Lapada, the UK’s largest association of professional art and antiques dealers (www.lapada.org)

You can take a look at silver ideas for the study in the Picture Gallery at the Silver Vaults website

A Fashionista's Silver Style

2010-03-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

We learn from this month’s In Style magazine that Gela Nash-Taylor, co-creative director of Juicy Couture (and wife of Duran Duran’s John Taylor) is a huge fan of The London Silver Vaults in Chancery Lane. “I … adore the London Silver Vaults. I’m a massive collector” she says in an interview with the magazine about her favourite shopping haunts in London. Her house in the country, which was recently featured in World of Interiors magazine, does indeed display some fabulous silver candelabra on her dining table, which look very chic mixed with white porcelain and lots of lovely glass. There is a wide range of silver candelabra for sale at the 30 specialist shops located at the Vaults, from the highly ornate late Georgian ones shown here, to much simpler styles and more modernist, post-war designs by the likes of Stuart Devlin and Gerald Benney. www.thesilvervaults.com

SILVER IN THE STUDY

2010-03-09T03:33:00.000-08:00

The study is a bolt-hole, for the writer, the loafer and the reader. The London Silver Vaults Spring 2010 selling exhibition runs until the end of May. It offers the smart study (or den or office) some fabulous Victorian, Edwardian and C20th desk accessories in silver such as inkstands (like this glass and silver owl), blotters, paper knives, pen trays, Victorian propelling pencils, tapersticks (small candlesticks for reading) and a late Victorian electric silver lamp. Bookmarks and bookends lend a library air. For after-dinner there are drinks trays, goblets, and decanters, as well as bridge sets or board games, even silver dice and sports trophies to reminisce over. There are over 70 exhibits and prices range from around £30 to £10,000. See the highlights in our new Picture Gallery.
www.thesilvervaults.com

This Christmas Buy Her Silver And Jewels

2009-11-24T05:49:00.000-08:00

If she likes vintage jewellery or silver why not start your Christmas shopping at the London Silver Vaults? This yuletide the Vaults has come up with some stunning gift Ideas for the special woman in your life. Their Dressing Table gifts exhibition in the foyer displays a selection which makes the shopping easier. To give you a taster have a look on the website under Christmas Gifts. Dress rings are very popular at the moment and you can actually buy an original Art Deco amethyst ring or a Peridot necklace from the early 1900s. Or what about a fabulous gem studded gold bracelet from the 1950s. For the dressing table there is a tall, heart shaped mirror, gorgeous enamelled hand mirrors in jewel bright colours like the ones shown here and if she likes to entertain what about silver champagne goblets or silver salad servers. And why not pop a silver bracelet charm in her Christmas cracker - there are dozens to choose from, both new and old.
TheLondonSilverVaults

What can I buy him for Christmas?

2009-11-24T05:26:00.000-08:00

Do you leave buying the most difficult present until last? That special gift for the man in your life? Well, help is at hand. If you want to find something that will be unique and most definitely not under any other Christmas tree, the London Silver Vaults is the place to go. There are over 25 shops to choose from in this treasure trove in Southampton Buildings at the north end of Chancery Lane. To get some ideas why not look on the website at the selection we have made from our Christmas Gifts exhibition at the Vaults. Did you know for instance that you can buy vintage Rolex watches or fabulous decorated silver goblets for wine or champagne. Or an elegant cutglass and silver decanter or claret jug. Or what about a chunky Dunhill table lighter…you don’t find many table lighters in the shops now. There are some great ideas here and prices to suit all pockets. Now what about giving him his very own Harley motorbike - in silver, of course. He will be very impressed.

thesilvervaults

Rituals, Magic and Vikings - New History of Silver

2009-11-11T05:53:00.000-08:00

Silversmith Philippa Merriman has written a terrific and beautifully illustrated book on silver, called 'Silver', and its place and influence in our lives for the last six millennia. It's a fascinating story of wealth and power in different periods and cultures, from the Vikings of Scandinavia to the Bedouins of North Africa.

As silver can be melted and worked relatively easily, it is suitable for many purposes, such as jewellery, vessels and plates and for rituals and adornment. The Anglo-Saxon coin hoards and jewels from the Middle East, English college plate and spectacular finds from the graves of ancient Mesopotamia are featured and are among the 120 illustrations in the book. They can also be seen in the British Museum, whose publishing arm has produced this book.

Out now 'Silver' is a superb Christmas present, price £9.99 from quality book shops, the British Museum’s shops, and online at www.britishmuseumshoponline.org and if you are inspired to own some of the real thing there are 30 dealers in antique and vintage silver in London's Silver Vaults in Southampton Buildings off Chancery Lane, London WC2 with the world's largest collection of silver for sale. www.thesilvervaults.com

Save our Antique Shops

2009-11-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

Dealers at the London Silver Vaults have teamed up with BBC Homes & Antiques magazine to offer H&A readers 10 per cent off throughout October and November

The offer comes as part of the magazine’s ‘Save our antiques shops’ campaign. ‘Experts estimate that 30 per cent of antiques shops have closed over the last 3-5 years and we wanted to do something to encourage people to realise how important they are,’ says deputy editor Natasha Goodfellow. ‘Not only are antiques green, the shops are vital in adding character and interest to the high street, keeping money in our local communities and in bringing in tourism.’

To obtain your discount, just present the November issue of Homes & Antiques, on sale now, when you make a purchase at a participating shop in the London Silver Vaults.

In a letter to the Sunday Times recently Iain Brunt and Henry Sandon pointed out that 'the UK antiques and art industry generated £4billion in 2007, ten per cent of the global total'. They added that antiques shops create jobs in tourism, shipping, transport and conservation and they are an important draw to country towns. 'Every closure leaves a gap in provincial streetscapes'

And there will be more events and offers in the antiques business during the UK's first National Antiques Week from 23 to 30 November 2009.

www.thesilvervaults.com

2009-10-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Britain's silver dealers throw down challenge on dripping teapots

Further to reports in some of this week's papers, silver has provided a drip-free teapot solution to drippy teapots since the 17th century

Steven Linden, Chairman of The London Silver Vaults, says: “I would happily challenge anyone to achieve a perfectly-poured, non-drip cup of tea as many times in a row as you would from a silver or silver-plated teapot. Silversmiths can achieve a perfect pouring spout, the clue is that silver is far thinner than ceramic, and it is the thinness of the spout of a silver teapot which prevents its dripping. Pace French nanotechnology creating bumpy spouts or Mrs Bennetts's
buttery spouts.

An added advantage is that silver is also an excellent conductor of heat, so tea stays hotter longer, and the need to ‘warm the pot’ is redundant.

In the last few years, establishments such as The Wolsley Restaurant, and Claridges Hotel in London, have returned to using silver-plated tea- and coffee pots (which they source from The London Silver Vaults, the worlds largest retailer of antique and modern English silver), as they realise the overall qualities of silver provide a better ‘tea experience’ than a ceramic pot.
http://www.thesilvervaults.com/

Buy Antiques Now Say Leading Accountants

2009-08-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Deloitte’s August statement to clients finds in favour of buying antique furniture rather than modern pieces which have increased in price by about 32 per cent over the last six years, while antiques have dropped by about 20 per cent. Antiques Trade Gazette reporting on the statement highlights three reasons why antique furniture is a good investment: one, the credit crunch has drastically reduced the return on cash, two, it is always wise to spread your risks into a range of assets, and three, antiques are illiquid and therefore avoid big price swings.

But best reason of all for buying antique furniture is that it is better made and cheaper than new. The same rationale fits antique silver which is less costly per ounce than new silver. And there is plenty that fits well into today’s lifestyle such as candlesticks, bowls, trays and cutlery. The bloom on a piece of antique silver is also easier on the eye than the modern chilly, white silver offering.

The London Silver Vaults has thirty different shops selling everything from jewellery to sugar bowls. This summer the selling exhibition showcases three great British silversmith dynasties. Hester Bateman’s family in 18th century London, known for high quality, classic Georgian design, the Elkingtons in the Victorian era who made wonderful extravagant dining table centrepieces and James Dixon & Sons (1806 to1976) which became a world wide brand supplying silver and silver plate to famous names such as Harrods and the Savoy Hotel. BRITISH SILVERSMITH DYNASTIES 1 June - 4 October 2009
www.thesilvervaults.com

Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, WC2A 1QS. Open 9 to 5.30 Mon – Fri,
Saturdays 9 to 1pm. 020 7242 3844.

Silver Treats for Easter

2009-03-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide
A E Housman 1859 – 1936

Born a hundred and fifty years ago he may have been, but A E Housman’s verse about Spring and Easter still captures the cheerfulness of the first Spring blossom. Another simple pleasure, the taking of tea, is celebrated at the moment at The London Silver Vaults, the place to buy antique and modern silver. The tasty silver treats for sale in the Time for Tea exhibition, would look well on the Easter tea table - silver cake stands, toast racks, a silver hen keeping the boiled eggs warm and a single egg warmer, complete with spoon, inspired by Lord Argyll’s idea of insulating food containers with boiling water. Sets of butter knives and tea spoons and lots of beautiful tea sets. In fact Easter presents galore or maybe just an investment in a lovely piece of silver to keep as a nest egg. www.thesilvervaults.com

Collectable Cameos

2009-03-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Cameos are tiny carved pictures in relief usually mounted in precious metal frames such as gold or silver. You could hang a little group on on a wall, pin one to your lapel or turn one into a dress ring. That's what the Victorians did and according to How To Spend It, the FT's luxury weekend magazine, cameos in their various forms are making a comeback.

You may be surprised to learn that a good source of cameos is The London Silver Vaults. There are several jewellers down here alongside all the shops selling just silver. In a recent exhibition of silver sculpture, several cameos set in gold or silver were part of the show. There was a stunning head and shoulders of a goddess carved from a conch set in a heavy gold bracelet of layered leaves and tiny gold beads. This Victorian treasure was from Anthony Green in Vault 54. Another cameo this time of Athena with the customary vine leaves and grapes in her hair was set in Victorian gold also. This from Belmont in Vault 46. And more goddesses from Wolfe in Vault 41 could be worn as brooches or pendants.

That's my silver tip for today.