Description
A stunning pair of shaped gadroon border silver sauce boats sitting on a oval pedestal foot. The handle is scroll formed and has a decorative acanthus leaf thumb piece for highlights.
Weight: 25.8 troy ounces/803 grams
Length: 8 inches/20cm
Width: 4 inches/10cm
Height: 4.75 inches/12cm (foot to top of rim)
Condition: Excellent throughout
Price: £1150
Mappin & Webb traces its origins to 1775, when Jonathan Mappin opened a silver workshop in Sheffield, then as now a major centre of the English silver trade. The business eventually became Mappin Brothers.[1]
One of Jonathan Mappin’s great grandsons, John Mappin, started his own business in London, Mappin & Company, in 1860, which became Mappin, Webb & Co. in 1862 after John Mappin was joined by his brother-in-law George Webb. The first Mappin & Webb store opened in 1860 at 77-78 Oxford Street, London and the company’s candelabras, fine silverware and vanity products swiftly gained renown. As a natural progression from silverware, Mappin & Webb began designing jewellery. Mappin, Webb & Co. acquired Mappin Brothers in 1903.
Mappin & Webb expanded internationally beginning in the 1890s. Its first overseas store was established in Johannesburg and stores soon followed in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Biarritz, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Cairo and Bombay. However all international stores closed in the second half of the 20th century.[2]
