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Lords and Ladies and their silver

 Lady Gaga it was reported recently in the Mail

insists on sitting down to a dining table bedecked

with a full silver service of cutlery. Shows silver can be

edgy.  And where do you think the props people for ITV's

Downton Abbey get their silver?  Word has it that they have

bought it from the London Silver Vaults – tops for antique silver 

from as far back as the 1700s. 

Yesterday was a rather special day. The Lord Mayor of the City of London and the Lady Mayoress came to the London Silver Vaults to congratulate us on achieving our sixtieth anniversary, here in London's Chancery Lane. They were shown round by Steven Linden who chairs the Dealers Association and given a brief history of the Vaults.  

 

Ray Feldman who now runs his own shop was able to give a first hand account of the history because he has worked here for as long as the Silver Vaults as shops have existed. In 1953 there were just 13 dealers, now there are 25. Then the silver wares were piled on trestle tables down the main 'street' in front of what were real Vaults.  This image was captured by a Ronald Searle drawing in the new

picture display of special moments from the past. (Like Liberace buying his candelabra from the then Mrs Langford, grandmother of the two Langfords who now run the shop)

The mayoral party were amused to see tiny silver figures of the different people who made up the 'cries of London' such as the town crier, fishmongers, flower sellers.  These were in Tara Belmont's

shop amongst her lovely modern and vintage jewellery.

A visit to Vivienne in Bryan Douglas gave an opportunity to talk about the families involved in the Vaults and how businesses have continued for generations.

In David Shure they saw a humongous silver wine 'cistern'.  Big enough to have a bath in.

Although brief, the visit was much enjoyed by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, as an opportunity to learn more about a topic of interest to them both.  It made a relaxing change in their hectic schedule of official speeches and business meetings - up to five events a day!

WIN £1000 WORTH OF SILVER

Visit the shops at the London Silver Vaults between now and the end of October and you can enter a Prize Draw to win a £1,000 shopping spree in any of the Vaults 25+ shops selling silver, vintage watches or jewellery. The Draw is part of the London Silver Vaults' 60 Lustrous Years celebrations.

<sup>The Draw will take place on November 1 and so the lucky winner will be able to buy some very special Christmas presents this year, perhaps over fizz and mince pies at the Silver Vaults Christmas Shopping Day on 4 December.

As part of the 60 Lustrous Years programme, all things British will be celebrated in silver in a new selling exhibition in July and a new illustrated booklet on the timeless elegance of silver will be published at the same time. 

So make sure 2013 is the year you do go shopping at the London Silver Vaults.</sup>

Great Gatsby! It's Art Deco at the London Silver Vaults.

The stage show Top Hat started London’s current craze for 1930s style. Great Gatsby-mania is now taking off, ‘the Twenties look’ already embraced by fashion, beauty and men’s grooming. At the London Silver Vaults a selling exhibition Art Deco – Silver in the ‘Style Moderne’ gives you the chance to buy original Art Deco silver from the two decades.

The Twenties and Thirties were a delicious interlude when the bright young things of the day overthrew the fussy styles of the past.  In came the crisp lines of Art Deco - elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity, first feted at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs.

Architecture, furniture, textiles and also silverware and jewellery, from Europe to the USA, embraced the clean lines of industry and took inspiration from exotic ancient cultures (Egyptian, Aztec, tribal African) and the influence of cubism and futurism in art.

In silver, Art Deco is all about sleek, stretched shapes in architectural forms, with geometric and stylised detail.  Surface pattern is minimal, allowing the burnished smooth patina of the metal to gleam. 

French designers leading the style were Paul Poiret, René Lalique, Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, Jean Dunand and Jean Puiforcart.  English silversmiths took their cue, and makers such as Walker & Hall, Atkins Brothers, Carrington & Co, Adie Brothers and Mappin & Webb created wonderful Art Deco tableware and accessories.  Tiffany was the jeweller of the day.

Art Deco design looked good in the Twenties and Thirties and still makes a statement in Twenty Thirteen. Items for sale range in price from a set of 12 cocktail cups in silver plate for £240 (Linden & Co) to a pair of sterling silver tazzas in a Jean Puiforcat design made by Elkington at £6,500 (S &J Stodel).

Our Top Ten 'Jewels' for Valentine’s Day

The London Silver Vaults sells antique silver but also has a great selection of silver vintage jewellery and watches and even some new silver jewellery from today’s talented silversmiths.

You will find a good selection of jewellery and gift items on display in the three big cabinets in the downstairs foyer – these are the ‘shop windows’ for the Vaults. Here are ten items on display which our designer has selected. Any one would make a perfect Valentine’s Day gift.  See more from the display.

 

For Her

Diamonds and precious stones 

1.  Eternity ring set with three diamonds and four sapphires.

£450 Bruford & Heming, Vault 65 

2. 5cm wide cuff bracelet in plain silver. £270 William Walter, Vault 3

3. 1950s Danish enamelled silver bracelet. £225 Linda Jackson Vaults 53 & 55 

4. Modern, hand enamelled silver    ‘Wave’ earrings by Scottish silversmith Sheila Fleet. £87.   Nat Leslie, Vault 21 (enquiries to Vault 7)

5. Black Onyx & Diamond Necklace with white gold ‘kiss’

£1,950. Belmont, Vaults 48 & 50

6. Silver, marcasite & cubic zirconium necklace, £195.

William Walter, Vault 3.  

Contact details here

For Him

Gold for Him

1. Gold compass £150 Wolfe, Vault 41

2. Gold chain cufflinks £425 Wolfe, Vault 41

3. Silver model of vintage car £550. J Surtees, Vault 16

4. Martini cocktail stirrer, lemon zester and ice crusher in one.

£95. Linden & Co, Vault 7. 

Contact details here

SILVER VAULTS SHORTLISTED FOR AWARD

The London Silver Vaults has been shortlisted in the 2013 Homes and Antiques

Awards.  The announcement was made in the February issue of the magazine that 
The London Silver Vaults is one of 25 shops shortlisted for the Antiques Centre of the Year.

The Vaults is delighted to have been recognised as offering ‘excellent quality, choice and knowledgeable and personable service’ especially in 2013 when it is celebrating its 60^th year of business at the Chancery Lane site.

We invite our customers and Homes and Antiques readers to vote for us on the magazine's website by the end of February 2013. The top five venues in each category will be announced in April and the Winners will be announced at the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair on 25 April during National Antiques Week.

Since 1953 The London Silver Vaults has been selling quality antique and contemporary British and foreign silver in the many shops in Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, at the corner of Southampton Buildings.  It now boasts the largest collection of silver for sale in the world.

You can vote by clicking here.  We hope you will support us.

Silver is the trend says Barbara Chandler in the Evening Standard

Homes and Property (28 November 2012).

‘Silvery rooms are bang on trend. Ditch the red for winter white. Very Ralph Lauren. Metallic surfaces make a virtue of weak winter light. Choose shimmering wallcoverings, silvery lamp bases and pendants in chrome/pewter/glass. Wrap up in faux fur throws and hang large mirrors in ornate silver frames.’

Well, it just so happens that in the London Silver Vaults Seasonal Sparkle Christmas Gift  display right now there are three brilliant examples of Barbara's suggestions which you can buy. There’s a large decorated self-standing mirror and a silver electric table lamp. And these are both Edwardian so they pack an extra punch when it comes to value. And look fabulous. There is also a rather elegant late Victorian mirror (pictured here). More details in the Exhibition Catalogue on the website. 

Special Festive Shopping Day: Next Wednesday December 5 we are open late (till 8) and we have drinks and canapés and jolly music lined up to make your visit extra special. And there’s a glass of bubbly free if you book to eat at the Chancery Restaurant in Cursitor Street further down Chancery Lane and whisper the magic words Silver Vaults.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING DAY AT THE LONDON SILVER VAULTS

Wednesday 5^th December 2012

THE LONDON SILVER VAULTS

CHANCERY LANE/SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS WC2A 1QS

10.30am to 8.00pm LATE OPENING

Enquiries: pr@pipparoberts.com

 

For the first time ever, the London Silver Vaults, known for its vast selection of antique and modern silver and jewellery,  is staying open to the public until 8pm for late night shopping on 5 December. 

 

It will be a rare occasion to shop late at the fascinating London Silver Vaults, filled to the brim with fantastic gift ideas and on 5 December you can enjoy festive music, tasty canapés and a complimentary drink as you browse the many specialist shops housed at the Vaults.  Find affordable silver gifts such as swizzle sticks, coffee spoons, cocktail shakers, napkin rings, silver bracelets and modern jewels.

 

Get the  benefit of the dealers’ many years of experience in how to buy, use, collect and treasure silver. 

Back to Big Splashy Jewellery

Jewellery design has gone through some changes since the recession started to bite. Diamonds got smaller, used as pave threads around gems rather than being the centrepiece, and precious and semi precious gemstones got more colourful too but also smaller. This Autumn colour is still the hot story but the gemstones are big and splashy*, with lots of orange and red stones such as orange opals, mandarin garnets and pink sapphires (always popular), as well as a smattering of green emeralds and soft blue aquamarines. And where yellow gold is usually the standard setting for jewels, now, because of its current astronomic price (around $1700 an ounce) jewellers are using more platinum and silver for setting these colourful gems. Platinum was a jewellery favourite in the Thirties because it set off the Art Deco black and white designs so well and silver, although it has risen in price, is a fraction of the price of gold. You can still buy the original Thirties jewellery and other later, mid century designs (which are coming back into fashion) at the London Silver Vaults

where several dealers specialise in vintage and antique jewellery as well as promoting new jewellery design. Belmont has an Art Deco eternity ring with a full ruby channel set in platinum for £800. Wolfe has a Victorian deep blue enamelled heart pendant edged with tiny pearls and decorated with a silver bow of tiny diamonds for £1,750. William Walter has a retro silver filigree necklace with marcasite and four, deep maroon garnets for £140 and a colourful silver bangle set with lots of different agate stones for £450 (pictured). Nat Leslie stocks the contemporary Moonlight Collection by Sheila Fleet which features earrings and necklaces using opals, silver and blue hand enamelling. At the beginning of October these and many more colourful gems will be centre stage in the Silver Vaults’ 'Seasonal Sparkle' Christmas Gift display of attractive silver gifts in the foyer and online. All items are for sale. *Financial Times: Watches & Jewellery 8 Sep 2012

Follow the City's Silver Trail

Buried Treasure: Silver in the City is a new guided walk discovering the City's links to the story of silver from the Romans to the 20th century. The new Walk has been sponsored by the London Silver Vaults as part of the Celebrate the City event running from next Thursday 21 June until Sunday. The first Walk will start at 2pm Thurday 21 June 2012 and at the same time Friday. Saturday and Sunday the walk starts at 10am. Meet at Chancery Lane Tube. You will end the walk at the London Silver Vaults about an hour later, where you can see an exhibition of 20th Century Modernist silver called Post War Winners. The guided walk is free but you do need to book. Book here on the Celebrate the City website. The Vaults are closed on Sundays. Over the course of these four very special days (21 – 24 June), thousands of people will be given the keys to the City of London, as the Square Mile opens its doors to reveal many of its secrets and treasures. It's your chance to enjoy the freedom of the City of London - and a unique opportunity to find out why the Square Mile is not as square as you might think! Launching on Midsummer Day (21 June) with Tchaikovsky’s thunderous 1812 Overture performed in Guildhall Yard by musicians from Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Celebrate the City events – most of which are free-of charge - will include glittering exhibitions, City walks and talks, Livery Hall openings, family entertainment at the Cheapside Fayre, activities at the Barbican Centre and Museum of London, and music in many of the City’s churches. Celebrate the City is a joint collaboration between the City’s arts partners, attractions, livery companies, churches, retail and hotels. It is promoted by the City of London Corporation and the Diocese of London with generous support from the City Bridge Trust.

Causing a flutter at the Antiques Road Show

A spectacular diamond butterfly brooch from the Edwardian period was on last Sunday’s (1st April) Antiques Road Show and was valued for insurance at £60000, much to the delight of the mother and daughter who brought it to the show. If you were looking closely at the screen you would have seen Linden and Co, 85 New Bond Street, printed inside the lid of the brooch box.
.
There is still a Linden & Co today which is based at the London Silver Vaults and specialises in antique silver and jewellery. Steven Linden’s great uncle originally worked out of a tiny office near London’s Piccadilly and did rather well when Britain came off the gold standard causing a flurry of buying and selling in gold and silver. With his profits he opened a double fronted jewellery shop in upmarket Bond Street. Two nephews joined him in the business; one was Steven’s father. After his uncle died, Stevens’s father set up Linden & Co in 1960 at the London Silver Vaults, which is now run by his two sons Steven & Howard.

Says Steven Linden, ‘My great uncle’s combination of entrepreneurial spirit and good eye for quality was the key to a very successful career. Over 60 years later like many of the dealers in the silver vaults whose knowledge have been handed down through the generations, we probably know a thing or two about silver & jewellery, which makes the Vaults a rather special place to shop. And butterfly brooches are still very popular.’

Flickering candlelight in a room adds a magical touch. If you add silver in the form of candlesticks, the effect of candlelight and silver can be utterly stunning. So while the nights are still dark and cold, here are some ideas to add warmth to your evenings in.

In its current selling exhibition, The London Silver Vaults has an eclectic mix of antique and modern silver candlesticks, candelabra and other devices for carrying the flame into 2012. You can find timeless Georgian elegance like the candlesticks shown here from 1763 through to avant garde contemporary design like this de Vecchi 20th century flourish known as the T8 candelabra.

A cluster of candlesticks works to better effect. Put a string of candlesticks down the centre of a dining table and set these off with tea-lights underneath. But never leave lit candles unattended in a room.

Silver collectors visiting the display will be intrigued by some very unusual pieces such as a rare pair of adjustable candle-holders for the piano, a J Gilbert candle snuffer and tray in Old Sheffield Plate or a really stunning pair of five-light candelabra with a Chinese style bamboo pattern from the turn of the century.
Carrying the Flame runs until mid May 2012. See the catalogue for a list of the exhibits

Hand Mirrors Popular Again

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.