Description:
One of a pair of fused or Sheffield silver plate candlesticks decorated with bands of gadrooning, which is marked "MB" in a rectangle for Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) of Birmingham; stamped with the date letter "e" in a shield for 1802, anchor for Birmingham, lion passant, the sovereign's head, and "!4; " and engraved with crest of a rampant lion holding a cross on the two-stepped base. Fairbairn's lists several families using this crest. Sheffield silver plate came into being in 1742 when a silversmith found that clean, smooth, blocks of copper and silver would bond when he pressed them together. He sandwiched copper between two silver slabs -- then ran them through rollers, over and over resulting in a silver outside a strong copper core. In 1762, Matthew Boulton set up a factory in Birmingham, England, where he made silver-plated objects with the Sheffield process and became the first really large producer of Sheffield plate. When silversmiths raised legal objections to stamping hallmarks on Sheffield plate, Bolton and other local silversmiths campaigned to establish a local assay office which would measure the silver content in individual products and issue hallmarks to guarantee quality standards. In 1773, an Act of Parliament was passed to create Birmingham Assay Office. The hallmarking system provided a date and identity marks for silver products manufactured in and near the town. Birmingham became one of the most important centres for British silver manufacturing. Need conservation, lacquering
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