Unidentified 1885 Cased Set
- Thread starter bron340
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Very nice pipes, whoever made them. I especially like that bulldog on the bottom.
Hi bron, great looking pipes; congratulations on your purchase!
My two cents: I don't think the silverwork is by Frederick Elkington. I think it more likely it's by Frank Erratt. You would think we would know more about hallmarks than we do, but the fact is that not all 19th c. hallmarks are known, even by experts like John Culme.
In this case I think the key indicators are first the cartouche, which on your pipe bears no resemblance to that utilized by Frederick Elkington in the surviving samples I've seen. Second, Elkington was part of a family that by the latter part of the 1800s was focused on silver plate, and was based in Birmingham. It's true Elkington & Co. did work in sterling too, but as far as I can tell it was different in nature and no mounting was involved.
As an alternative candidate I'd offer Frank Erratt (1853-1924), a London-based silversmith specializing in mounting for walking sticks and and based in London (where your assay mark is from). The overlap between walking sticks and pipes was a relatively common phenomenon, and my two cents is that his cartouche is a better match for the one on your pipe.
At this remove it's impossible to prove who did or didn't do the work on most surviving pipe mounting so you can believe whatever you find most persuasive. My take is that Erratt is the better bet: he was active at the right time, engaged in the mounting of silverwork on walking sticks (a closely related area to pipes), and based in London. For what it's worth his kids were involved in the business too.
In any case you have a great cased set and I hope they give you much pleasure.
Rgds,
Jon
My two cents: I don't think the silverwork is by Frederick Elkington. I think it more likely it's by Frank Erratt. You would think we would know more about hallmarks than we do, but the fact is that not all 19th c. hallmarks are known, even by experts like John Culme.
In this case I think the key indicators are first the cartouche, which on your pipe bears no resemblance to that utilized by Frederick Elkington in the surviving samples I've seen. Second, Elkington was part of a family that by the latter part of the 1800s was focused on silver plate, and was based in Birmingham. It's true Elkington & Co. did work in sterling too, but as far as I can tell it was different in nature and no mounting was involved.
As an alternative candidate I'd offer Frank Erratt (1853-1924), a London-based silversmith specializing in mounting for walking sticks and and based in London (where your assay mark is from). The overlap between walking sticks and pipes was a relatively common phenomenon, and my two cents is that his cartouche is a better match for the one on your pipe.
At this remove it's impossible to prove who did or didn't do the work on most surviving pipe mounting so you can believe whatever you find most persuasive. My take is that Erratt is the better bet: he was active at the right time, engaged in the mounting of silverwork on walking sticks (a closely related area to pipes), and based in London. For what it's worth his kids were involved in the business too.
In any case you have a great cased set and I hope they give you much pleasure.
Rgds,
Jon
Jon,
i have just found your entry about Frank Erratt and would appreciate if you are able to tell me anything else at all about him. I am married into the Erratt family, my Erratt husband is a hobbyist silversmith and we both have a great interest in silver, both Australian and worldwide. I have written three books on the subject. We only became aware of Frank Erratt, London silversmith in 2018 when one of his silver mounted walking sticks came up for auction at Barneby's of London. I would very much like to find out as much as I can about our namesake and would be most grateful if you could supply me any information and point me in the right direction to find out more.
Thank you.
Christine
Hi Christine,
Welcome to the forum!
I’ll be glad to share what little information I have. I’ll send you a private message with my email address so I can send it along.
Best regards,
Jon
Hi Christine I have notice your entry about being married into the Erratt family. May I introduce myself. My father was Frank Erratts grandson,therefore Frank Erratt would be my Great Grandfather. My fathers mother being Theresa Erratt marrying Frederick Walter Farthing.I own some very old photos of Frank and he's wife and daughters. They also had a son Charles sadly killed in WW1 in the line of duty. Some of hes daughters photos were professionally done in a studio which makes me think the family were fairly wealthy. He's business was in Clerkenwell London a Silversmith making fine silver walking stick handles amongst other things. I am a member of Genesreunited a family tree website and have some photos on there. I'm happy to share my tree with you if you are a member too. However if your not I'm happy to share photos via E-Mail if you let me have your Email address. Best wishes. Victor G Farthing.
Send her a PM so that she gets an email notice. Otherwise she might not see your post.