Lot 382
A RARE GEORGE III DRUM TEA CADDY
BY WILLIAM KERR, EDINBURGH 1772
Scottish Silver & Applied Arts
Auction: 16 August 2017 at 12:00 BST
Description
The drum formed caddy with finely engraved border of foliate decoration around rim, keyhole pendant cartouche with crest and motto within, flush hinged lid similarly engraved with cast fruiting bud finial to centre, with original steel key
Dimensions
Height: 12cm, diameter: 9.5cm, weight: 10.2oz
Footnote
Note: This fine tea caddy represents a very rare survivor of Scottish silver. The use of tea caddies in Scotland would have been as commonplace as elsewhere in Britain, however Scottish-made silver tea caddies are extremely rare. Even into the third quarter of the 18th century, when tea drinking and silver tea wares were far more common and accessible.
It has often been considered that either the fashion in Scotland was for wooden caddies, with various examples of Scottish origin known, or that specialist makers in England were supplying the trade in Scotland with silver examples. Both theories seem to carry weight and these combined perhaps give reason to the rarity of such fine Scottish-made examples.