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This salt cellar (London,1792) with (overstruck) mark of Thomas Ollivant was probably made by Peter and Anne Bateman. Overstriking has been discussed before on this forum, see : http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3549

However, the engraved decoration is not at all typical for P and A Bateman, although there is some resemblance with regards to the leaves in the decoration of a similarly shaped P and A Bateman salt cellar on David Bexfield's site.
Does anyone know:
Is this engraving contemporary?
Could it have been done by P and A Bateman?
Would Thomas Ollivant have executed the engraving before overstriking the piece with his mark?
Was the engraving added at a later date?





Thank you in advance,

Kind regards, Robbert.
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To me the engraving looks either contemporary (or actually a little earlier !)
My guess is that the piece was made by the understriker without the side engraving, which was added by a journeyman working for TO (which certainly looks like Grimwade 3450 (Thomas Ollivant ). He probably had an order from a customer who wanted to match some older plate, or perhaps being in or near near Manchester was a bit old-fashioned in his taste.
I would say the engraving is very unlikely to post date 1792, being to my eyes more 1772.
I love the legs !
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Thank you very much for your most helpful comment, Buckler!
Robbert
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In my opinion, the engraving on this salt is definitely not contemporary, but rather from the middle of the 19th Century, perhaps even as late as the 1880s or '90s.
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Thank you Miss Ray for your comment.

I posted my query on the forum because I wasn't sure.
The engraving is neat and quite symmetrical and does not seem to bring the piece out of balance. I also think that 'old fashioned ' rococo ornament can sometimes be found on late 18th century pieces and that Buckler therefore might be right.
On the other hand ,the engraving does seem to fill all of the space available on the sides of the salt as is typical for Victorian decoration.
There is another feature: the engraving is rather deep and clearly shows on the reverse side although it is true that this is medium gauge silver. I can imagine a more gentler hand would have been used at the end of the 18th century.
I can post more photographs if this would be helpful.

Robbert
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