13      Where to Find Silver Toys

 

 

 

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ilver toys and miniatures are not hard to find. And just like hundreds of years ago, a collector can if they so desire buy a doll’s house and try and equip it with as many silver toys as they can find. Go to county antique fairs and flea markets. Look in the tabletop glass display cabinets, hidden away in a corner of small antique shop; it is quite likely that you will find a piece you are looking for – and they are certain to be under lock and key.

There are to the best of my knowledge no books available today (that are not out of print) covering the subject of silver toys and miniatures. Two well-known books which are very good and still available on the secondhand market and on eBay are:

·         Miniature Silver Toys by Victor Houart (prices vary from £25 to £175, depending on condition) – the information is excellent but it was published in 1981 in the United States and details are sketchy after the early twentieth century; also prices are not in euros.

·         Silver Toys and Miniatures by Miranda Poliakoff – again out of date, but it describes beautifully Dutch silver and doll’s houses that used to be on show at the V&A

As a result of a visit to the Silver Vaults another book of great interest to the collector of silver toys has been brought to my attention. Unfortunately it is written in Dutch, but there are many pictures in it of silver toys and makers’ marks. It is called Klien Zilver, 1650–1880.8


8 B.W.G. Wttewaall (1987) Klien Zilver 1650–1880, Amsterdam: A. de Lange.

It is certainly worth travelling to the main English museums which display silver toys. This will help familiarise the collector of what to look out for, and the names and makers’ marks of great silversmiths of England and Holland. The reading will further enlighten the collector of museums of interest and places to visit in Holland which is only an airbus ride away.

Try eBay on the web (www.ebay.com) and search for Solid silver miniatures. Be patient. It may be a few days before something tasty comes on view but the excitement of winning a bid is like a tonic to the collector.

Go to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford; look at the tiny silver toys, and get to recognise them. Search out the doll’s houses at these museums and others mentioned in this book (see also Appendix I: Museums to visit (UK)). Remember, hundreds of silver toys and miniatures had no silver at all yet are perfectly authentic. Get to know the hallmarks of the top half a dozen Dutch silver makers. Their work demands four figures. Get to recognise the same of the early English silversmiths; their work too demands four figures. Read, learn and study the toy market. It’s fun and rewarding.

It is also interesting for children; they can associate with them and even at a young age take an interest in toys that were produced hundreds of years ago. It is quite reasonable to imagine that one needs a lot of money to build up a silver collection, yet this is not necessarily the case. However, there are so many pitfalls that an unsuspecting collector can fall into when buying items of silver that for the majority of everyday collectors for whom this book has been written they will be well advised to:

 

1.       buy from a reliable dealer;

2.       purchase small interesting pieces they can afford;

3.       get a signed receipt;

4.       search the Internet.

 

Today there are nowhere near the variety of pieces that there were hundreds of years ago, which is a pity, because according to eBay, where most of it comes from, there is a good demand for these tiny silver toys. Unfortunately, most of the eighteenth-century toys made by famous silversmiths of the day are now in either private collections or museums. In fact Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has a remarkable collection of miniature silver toys. 

An online visit to Daniel Bexfield Antiques (http://www.bexfield.co.uk) will assist all collectors of silver toys and enlighten them on their value and give you a good idea of current prices.

The object of this book has been to enlighten the collector as to what is available today, yet show them what is still available if one is prepared to look around and pay the price of Georgian miniature toys and collectables. Good luck with your collecting.


Figure 8     Small tea set and tray belonging to the author; purchased September 2010 for £236; made in Birmingham, 1905, by Saunders & Sheperd;9 width: 103 mm (4.3") inc. handles; overall height 40 mm (1.5"); the teapot is 1.3" high.


9 Cornelius Saunders & Frank Sheperd entered the trade of silversmith in 1888 and obtained the London hallmark of the leopard’s head in 1889. They were founded in London by Cornelius Desormeaux Saunders, Snr and James Hollings Sheperd. They became Saunders & Sheperd Ltd in 1899 and Saunders Sheperd & Co Ltd in 1916. They were active at Holborn Circus, London (1873–1902).