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Rare Cape Silver Konfyt Fork - Daniel Heinrich Schmidt, "Greatest Cape Silversmith"
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Reference: S1540
Period: George III
Year: 1768-1811
Silversmith: Daniel Heinrich Schmidt
Place: Cape
Price: $ 270.00
Weight: 15 grams
Dimensions: 12.6 cm
Condition: Good, slight kink to stem, tines slightly wobbly.
Description: A very rare Cape Silver konfyt (preserve) fork, in the Feather Edge pattern. The fork has makers mark DHS, well struck and clear, along with a bunch of grapes with vine leaves in a circular punch (mark 109 in Cape Silver by Welz). Schmidt arrived in the Cape from Strelitz, Germany, as a soldier in 1768. He worked as a sword cutler for the Dutch East India Company, and became a burgher and silversmith in 1779. He died in 1811 (Cape Silver by Welz, pg 139). He is described by David Heller (in his book History of Cape Silver) as the "greatest Cape silversmith". Heller goes so far to describe Schmidt as a "master craftsman, whose work can be compared to Paul Storr" (History of Cape Silver, pg 79).
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Cape Silver Konfyt Fork - Daniel Schmidt
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Daniel Heinrich Schmidt hallmark
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Scale
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Daniel Heinrich Schmidt hallmark 2
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Cape silver konfyt fork showing feather edge pattern
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Close up of hallmarks
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