£1,500 - £2,500
THE MAXWELL SHIPWRIGHT FAMILY SILVER TOBACCO BOX, 1698
of oval form with the cover engraved with the contemporary arms of the Shipwrights' Company, interior and underside of base with inscriptions for previous Maxwell family owners; Peter Maxwell / 1698 / Robt son of the above Peter Maxwell ob 1746 / ae 46 / Willm son of Rob Maxwell ob 18th April 1797 / ae 67 / Robt son of Wm Maxwell / ob 6 March 1827 ae 71 and inside: Robt Curtis, son of Robt Maxwel, London hallmarks, possibly for William South, 1698 -- 3½in. (9cm.) long, 126g.
The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, purchased from a fund raised in memory of Hobart H. de C Moore, Prime Warden 1979-1980.
This is believed to be the oldest known representation of the Company arms on silver. The silver historian Arthur Grimwade records a William South gaining his freedom in 1670, his Britannia standard mark (no. 2598) registered for a smallworker. His maker's mark of WS in a heart appears in Jackson's Hallmarks.
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