DAVID MELLOR C.B.E. F.C.S.D. R.D.I. (BRITISH 1930-2009) §
RARE 'EMBASSY' CUTLERY SET, 1971/2
£10,710
Auction: Modern Made Day 2 - Lots 124 to 456 - Friday 02 May at 10:30
Description
115 pieces, a dozen 9-piece settings plus serving spoons and ladles, stamped maker's marks, hallmarked for Sheffield, silver and stainless steel, comprising 12 table knives with steel blades, 12 fish knives, 12 dessert knives with steel blades, 12 table forks, 12 fish forks, 12 dessert forks, 12 soup spoons, 12 dessert spoons, 12 tea spoons, 4 table spoons, 3 ladles, one ladle hallmarked for Sheffield 1966
Dimensions
the dinner knives 23.5cm long (9 ¼in long), the weighable silver approximately 5250 grms. (115)
Provenance
J. M. L. Stone Esq.;
Bonhams, London, Silver and Objects of Vertu, 4 June 2008, from whom acquired by the current owner;
Private Collection, London.
Footnote
Sold together with a copy of the original receipt from David Mellor, dated 25 October 1972.
DAVID MELLOR’S EMBASSY TABLEWARE
Politics unravels a plan to promote British tableware worldwide.
It was an order that was a dream, ‘We want you to supply silver you have designed to every British embassy in the world.’ The client of course was the British Government and the silversmith the Sheffield-based David Mellor. This was the idea of Lord John Hope, the Minister of Works in the Macmillan Conservative government. He considered British embassies should be both built and furnished in a modern style. The Ministry of Works commissioned Mellor in 1962. What became known as ‘Embassy Tableware’ was unveiled at the Design Centre in 1963. The Council of Industrial Design enthusiastically stated that it was, ‘the best of its kind that has been produced in this country for many years’. Comprising everything from candelabras to condiments, it covered all that a British Embassy could possibly need. All the silver was made at Mellor’s workshop with the exception of the Embassy cutlery.
This was forged by hand under David Mellor’s supervision at the specialist Sheffield company of C W Fletcher and given a satin finish. With a rectangular profile, it is more modern in shape than Mellor’s Pride which he designed in 1953 when he was a student at the Royal College of Art. Mellor wanted Embassy cutlery to have a certain splendour, but to avoid pomposity. The prongs of the dinner and desert forks are unusual as he adopted the 17th century approach of using three as opposed to the subsequent convention of four tines, but unlike their 17th century counterpart, with a ‘W’ formation as opposed to straight tines. The embassies in Warsaw and Mexico City were duly supplied with Mellor’s Embassy silver range, but then disaster struck.
In the 1964 General Election Labour won by just four votes and the new Prime Minister was the pipe smoking Harold Wilson. The following year the Government axed supplying silver to all its embassies. For a while, some pieces of Embassy Tableware were available from David Mellor direct or from Harrods. However, Mellor offered silver canteens of Embassy cutlery to order until the early 1970s. Corin Mellor, David’s son, advises that only five to six were ordered.