Is this a Chester Lion Passant of c1750 on a pair of Nips ?

buckler · Post by **buckler** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:08 pm

This smallish pair of Nips has only two marks, a Lion Passant Guardant on the inside of each bowl. There is regrettably no makers mark. Size overall is 112mm and weight about 36 grams

Originally I thought these were a London Pair of the 1720 —1740 period from the mark, but the style seemed a little too late.
Also the assay punch is cut cornered rather than squarish cornered.

Can anyone please advise if this is a Chester mark , whose pre 1760 Lion fits the bill quite well .

.

buckler · Post by **buckler** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:04 am

Lots of views of this question - but no answers !
Are there no Chester experts out there ?
.

MCB · Post by **MCB** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:25 am

Hello Clive,
No claim is made to expertise on standard marks but the upright base of its tail and the stance of the lion do look to me like those drawn on page 2 of Ridgway & Priestley's Chester Compendium and said to cover 1730-62. However the photographic reproduction on page 7 of their book has much more angled corners than those on the sugar nips but they do say minor changes occured as punches were replaced through use.
Not a definite answer to your question I know but perhaps it helps a little.
Regards,
Mike
.

Tongtwister · Post by **Tongtwister** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:44 am

Hi Clive,

trouble is its only guess-work. The mark is just not quite good enough to be certain. Without a maker's mark you just can never be certain. I'd also ask whether there were any makers making sugar nips out of Chester at around that time. Does David Shlosberg have a view?

Certainly sugar tongs from Chester pre-1825 are exceptionally rare.

These nips don't seem to have any particular peculiarities about the style that would suggest provincial.
.

buckler · Post by **buckler** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 9:16 am

Thanks for the comments guys.
I agree that the tongs certainly shown no signs of any provincial individuality.
David Shlosberg has commented privately that he feels with no other known Chester examples , these are unlikely to be an exceception !

My approach is a little different. I feel that these marks do not look like a London Lion Passant of the 1720 -1740 period and I was half-expecting someone to tell me they'd seen an undoubted London punch which disproves my thought. So I am very surprised that no-one has contended these ARE London punches. And proved it .
Now if these are NOT London punches , which is the real question - where are they from - and Chester seem the closest .

I was very dubious about claims for some Lions as Newcastle which have very much the form of the London 1740 -1756 punch - until I was shown examples with the top indent with an undoubted Newcastle maker and date letter.
So I think most of the question is - are these London Lions of the 1720 1740 period.
.