Teapot, with silver medallion and engraved initials. Date 1795. Caddies finely chased and having locks.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED CAKE BASKET.
Plain band-hinged handle. Pierced work at foot and shoulder. Shaped and fluted body.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
But the teapot and the coffee pot did not go unrecognized by the Sheffield artisans. What the silversmith did the platers did, and followed the fashions in rapid simulation of styles just catching the public taste. In determining date this must be borne in mind. At most the silver plate was only a year ahead of the replica. Sheffield was too alert to lag behind in fashion, especially in fashions which might readily change.
In eighteenth century polemics we find opponents to tea and to coffee. Jonas Hanway, the eastern traveller, who popularized the use of the umbrella in England, was antagonistic to the use of tea as a national beverage. And epigram writers were busy, as for instance:
If wine be a poison, so is tea--but in another shape,-- What matter whether we are kill'd by canister or grape.
The illustration (p. 191) shows the class of teapot made about 1790. The price, which is written in ink, is "1½ Pints 40s." and "Quart, 46s. Each." These prices must seem delightful to the lover and collector of old Sheffield plate nowadays who has to pay swinging prices, especially when we read that the old trade prices were subject to thirty per cent. discount. But it is the same with old Worcester china, where the original prices were a tenth of what is paid now. An interesting feature about this teapot illustrated is that it shows the fusion of the classic design in the wreath and the Chippendale manner in the ribbon ornament, which latter style finds its way into bookplates of the period. The French school of engravers of the _Louis Seize_ period embellished their oval portraits with ribbon ornament in this character.
These medallions intended to receive the crest of the owner were of silver. The Sheffield plater affixed them in position in a cunning manner with no unskilful touch. They were capable of receiving deeply cut engraving without exhibiting the copper underneath. They are a feature present in many examples not only of teapots but many other articles made in plated ware.