Whether made to display the family china and silver or just to provide storage, the best pieces of dining room or kitchen furniture, from aristocratic Adam sideboards to humble dressers, are now worth thousands of pounds.

The sideboard can be traced back to the side table, originally used for serving food. The dresser, on the other hand, probably developed from the 17th-century court cupboard used to display plate. (more…)

It is colour and size that generally count most in pricing a dining table, and these considerations are as important today as two hundred years ago.

Antique dinning table available to a buyer today vary enormously in style, quality and price. A 17th-century refectory table in original condition is very hard to come by, for example, and may cost many thousands of pounds, whereas a Victorian reproduction can be bought for a few hundred. Small, foldaway breakfast tables, which first appeared in the early 19th century as one answer to the space restrictions of small town houses, are still extremely popular, and for similar reasons.

Before buying any antique table, you should check it carefully for alterations, as marrying a table top to a different undercarriage is fairly common. (more…)

Dining and other upright chairs are among the most abundant of antiques and range in price from a few pounds to many thousands. Persistent hunting may enable you to assemble a set, one or two at a time, for a bargain price.

Among chairs with an upright back, comfortvaries a good deal. Dining chairs generally have an upholstered or caned seat and a wooden back, and may have arms — in which case they are known as arm or elbow chairs, or carvers. Upright dining chairs without any arms are also known as side chairs because they were placed around the sides of the room when not in use. Virtually identical chairs were also used as occasional chairs in the drawing room. (more…)

With a feverish desire to be in tune with high society, the well-to-do aped the taste of the Prince Regent’s court. The result was a Classical elegance with exotic flourishes.

No style more aptly named than Regency, for unlike most styles that bear the name of a current ruler, Regency has at its heart the tastes of the Prince Regent himself. The architects he employed set the style in buildings, and the furnishings in his homes were copied by the fashionable set. Even his critics fed off him by lampooning and caricaturing his scandalous private life and outrageous cronies. (more…)

A knife and fork may seem the perfect combination by modern standards, but before forks came into general use the knife and the spoon were the two vital, complementary utensils which served the needs at table. While eighteenth century examples of knives with handles of cast silver are available at a very high cost, the expense involved in making these in the heavier-gauge silver means that most eighteenth century examples available today are of the thinner silver produced at the end of the century.

Forks were used increasingly in England after the Restoration. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has a two-pronged fork made in 1632, one of the oldest silver table forks, but this is a very rare example. (more…)

In the twentieth century it is difficult to imagine eating meals without the aid of cutlery, yet it was not until the eighteenth century that it became the general custom to use forks, knives and spoons. The habit spread only gradually. Towards the later years of the seventeenth century a host might be expected to provide cutlery at table and although this tendency increased, many travellers carried with them their own personal set of a fork, knife and spoon, in a case often made of tooled leather, until as late as around the middle of the eighteenth century. (more…)

Early pierced baskets were heavy, magnificent pieces but these are rare. Eighteenth century examples were oval, rectangular or circular with a flat base and ornately-pierced sides, often featuring two small cabled silver handles which were later superseded by the swing type. Huguenot silversmiths were much acclaimed for their fine pierced and embossed baskets, and superb examples of their work, which clearly show why they were so admired, can be seen in various stately homes and museums.

However, some of their achievement must also be attributed to the English invention of the rolling-mill which had been improved by 1728, allowing the production of a fine gauge silver for more complicated piercing. (more…)

Monteiths, punch bowls and punch ladles

The monteith, which looks like a punch bowl with an ornate rim arid lifting handles, fir ^whist appeared some 20 years after the Restoration but became more general during the later years of the seventeenth century and earlier years of the eighteenth. Monteiths are comparatively rare pieces, and therefore fetch high prices. Their scalloped and notched rims were generally removable. The monteith was filld with cold water, then glasses were hung by their foot upon the notchese, and thus allowed to cool in the water. When the monteith was not being used in l filled it punch. (more…)

Considering the amount of time women spent plying their needle, the group of silver items including thimbles, thimble buckets, pin cushions, bodkins and needle cases, is not extensive, particularly with earlier items. The position improves much later, during the Victorian era and into the twentieth century, so in order to avoid frustration it is well worth considering the later examples when starting or adding to a collection.

Among these are silver thimbles which can make a stunning collection when grouped together for display. Silver thimbles were used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but those which are usually available are not of this type, and even eighteenth century specimens have become far less easy to find. (more…)

A very interesting collection of knife rests can be built up, particularly if the collector seeks them in other materials in addition to sterling silver. The added advantage is that the general cost of establishing such a collection is lessened. Such a collection can then be sold at a later stage and the money re-invested in something more costly.

Basically the knife rest is a simple rod with a support at either end which keeps the rod clear of the table and enables it to support carving implements. The interest of knife rests lies mainly in the amazing diversity of ideas, many of which are novel, that brightened up this ordinary object. Animals were well-favoured as the supports and included elephants, camels, lions, monkeys, owls and so on. Others may be delicate, in the form of butterflies, or rather impressive, featuring peacocks or unicorns. Sometimes the supports are not disguised at all, perhaps merely decorated a little. Thistles, flowers or gnarled branches might grace others. Knife rests became more general in the nineteenth century. (more…)