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Cape Silver Hanoverian Basting Spoon - Daniel Heinrich Schmidt
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Reference: S1574
Period: George III
Year: Circa 1780
Silversmith: Daniel Heinrich Schmidt
Place: Cape
Price: $ 640.00
Weight: 109 grams
Dimensions: 29.7 cm
Condition: Excellent, one very tiny dent in bowl, barely noticeable. Good tip.
Description: A rare Cape silver Basting (or serving) spoon, by the Cape's "Greatest Silversmith" Daniel Heinrich Schmidt, as described by Heller in History of Cape Silver. The spoon is Hanoverian in style, with a very pronounced "turn up" end, almost 90 degrees to the spoon handle, a strong pip and a rib on the front of the handle. The spoon also has a double drop, and the stem changes from rounded to flattened. The spoon is a very good guage, with solid bowl and strong tip, very suitable for use. The hallmarks include makers mark HNS (mark 174 and 175 in Welz, Cape Silver) and a bunch of grapes. This was described as an unknown maker by Welz, but it is now accepted that this is the mark of Daniel Schmidt, with some wear and damage to the punch so the D looks more like an H (see Welz marks 108 and 109). The presence of the bunch of grapes, identical to that used by Schmidt, confirms this. The only other Cape silversmith to use a bunch of grapes was Jan Lotter, his bunch is quite distinctly different. Further confirmation comes from the quality of the work found with the HNS mark, this spoon being no exception. This is confirmed by the Strauss sale of March 2011, when a coffee pot and sugar basket by HNS set new record prices for Cape silver (R 900 000 for both), trebling the previous record (Lots 113 and 114, pg 62 in catalogue).
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cape silver hanoverian basting spoon - daniel heinrich schmidt
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Daniel Heinrich Schmidt hallmarks
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double drop
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tip of cape silver basting spoon
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Scale
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