Pair of silver handled forks, scroll embossed, Moses Brent? c. 1780

$395.00 AUD

Pair of silver handled forks, the truncated handles with reserved shaped panels and embossed scroll foliage to the end ,
Each hallmarked ‘MB’,
Circa 1780

17.2cm L, 1.5cm W
good condition with signs of use.

ref. Peter Brown ‘British Cutlery’ p115 for examples of this type dated to the 1760-1780 period.
‘M.B’ is recorded as a mark for Moses Brent, apprenticed as a knife handle maker 1763, freed 1770, first mark recorded 1775…. if his, this is apparently an early example.
‘MB’ can also relate to Matthew Boulton, the dynamic manufacturer famous for his partnership with James Wyatt and their early steam engines. These were of course used to press out metal forms such as the silver in these handles. He was active from the 1760’s onwards, but an earlier partnership with John Fothergill means there is usually an ‘IF’ included with the mark, until 1783.
In Bradbury’s ‘History of Old Sheffield Plate’ p456 an identical example is illustrated, by Sykes & Co and dated to 1792 – a remarkably late date that should be re-examined.

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