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Cape Silver Teaspoons (Pair) - John Townsend
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Reference: S1782
Period: George IV
Year: Circa 1824
Silversmith: John Townsend
Place: Cape
Price: $ 180.00
Weight: 37 grams
Dimensions: 14.0 cm
Condition: Excellent, very strong tips. One very small dent to one bowl.
Description: A pair of Cape silver teaspoons in the Fiddle pattern, with excellent hallmarks. The spoons also have a very faint and crudely scratched owners initial S on the back above the hallmarks, barely visible. The individually struck hallmarks include makers mark JT for John Townsend, pseudo duty mark, pseudo date letter a, pseudo leopards head town mark and pseudo date letter J (Welz mark 122, but struck in a different order). John Townsend (1800-1875) was an interesting character, descibed by Heller as one of the top 5 Cape silversmiths. He arrived in the Cape in 1821 on the ship Duke of Marlboro, and was involved in a number of businesses, including a hotel and auctioneering business, in addition to being goldsmith, silversmith, jeweller and watchmaker. He was embroiled in a number of court cases, mostly due to bad debt, in 1849 he stated "insufficient means to support his 10 children". He moved to Okiep in Namaqualand in 1852 as Manager of Spektakel Copper Mine, but was insolvent by 1868. He died in 1875, and is buried in the Springbok cemetery. He fathered 24 children by 3 wives, the last at age 74. We thank his descendant Guy Barker for this information.
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John Townsend Cape silver teaspoons
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Cape silver pseudo hallmarks
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Back of Cape silver teaspoons
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John Townsend cape silver hallmark
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Cape silver teaspoons - scale
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