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Auction: 26052 - Jewellery & Objets de Vertu
Lot: 90

ADMIRAL LORD NELSON: A GEORGE III SILVER FIDDLE PATTERN DESSERT SPOON, ENGRAVED WITH HIS CRESTS
LONDON, 1799
Of fiddle pattern, the terminal engraved with the San Josef crest above the Chelengk crest of Admiral Lord Nelson.
Maker's mark 'WE WF' for William Eley and William Fearn
London hallmarks, sterling standard
Size/dimensions: 17.50cm long; 3.50cm wide
Gross weight: 42.22g

The spoon shows small signs of wear consistent with use and is offered in excellent condition.


Provenance

Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)

Frances, Viscountess Nelson (d. 1831), his widow

Thence by descent through the family of her son, Josiah Nisbet, to her great-granddaughter

Her sale, Christie’s, London, 16 July 1896

Spink & Son, London

J. H. Dangar Esq., acquired from the above, 21 July 1896

Private collection, UK



SILVER FROM THE TABLE OF ADMIRAL LORD NELSON
In 1798 Horatio Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, one of the most complete naval victories of the age. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Nelson of the Nile and received honours from across Europe. A new rank brought new expectations, and in 1799 table silver befitting a peer was ordered from the London spoonmakers William Eley and William Fearn. Each piece was engraved with the crests that recorded Nelson's most celebrated victories.



The first of these, the San Josef crest, shows the stern of the Spanish man-of-war San Josef, which Nelson captured at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797 by boarding her from another captured ship. The second commemorates the chelengk, a spectacular diamond plume presented to Nelson by the Ottoman Sultan Selim III after the Nile, which Nelson wore in his hat and adopted into his arms.



Nelson had married Frances Nisbet, a young widow, on the island of Nevis in 1787. Her son Josiah served under Nelson at sea and is credited with saving his life at Tenerife in 1797, when Nelson lost his right arm. The marriage did not survive Nelson's attachment to Emma Hamilton, and the couple separated in 1801. After Nelson's death at Trafalgar in 1805, Lady Nelson's possessions, including silver from their household, descended through the family of her son.



The spoons remained in that line until 16 July 1896, when they were sold at Christie's as the property of a great-granddaughter of Lady Nelson. Spink & Son bought them at the sale, together with two ladles, as part of a group of six dessert spoons, and five days later sold them to J. H. Dangar Esq. Spink's invoice, a copy of which accompanies the lots, records that the silver had remained in the family since Nelson's death and "were in constant use by him". After 130 years, four of the spoons return to Spink.


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Estimate
£1,500 to £2,000

Starting price
£1200