Notes: Scottish William IV sterling silver salver made by Robert Gray & Son, Glasgow, 1836-1837, of substantial weight and decorated in a flourish of fruiting grapevine around a central well, there engraved with a scrolling foliate wreath and central family crest of the Willan Family of London and Kingston upon Hull. The rim is embellished with an egg and dart border and the whole is raised on three bracket feet of fruiting vine.
Provenance: The Crest, a demi-lion rampant or. holding in its dexter paw a mullet of six-points, is that of the Willan Family, of London and Kingston upon Hull. The Willan family were members of parliament in Kingston-upon-Hull at least back into the 16th Century and persisted strongly into the 19th.
Dimensions: 9 7/8” diameter x 1 ½” high
Weight: 690 grams (22.18 ozt.)
Markings: Glasgow, 1836, Robert Gray & Son (1819-1848)
Condition: Antique, Excellent Condition. For Accuracy: the central well shows signs of light use commensurate with age.
Silversmith: Robert Gray & Son (William Gray) are “considered by many to be the finest Scottish maker of the first half of the 19th Century” (Brown, Finial, 2006-V16). Of humble beginnings the quality of output met and exceeded expectations at every turn. Often the go-to silversmith of the Aristocracy and the landed Gentry, they notably supplied silver to the Duke of Argyll of Inverary Castle, on request, for the visit of Her Majesty Queen Victoria in 1842. The firm would end with William Gray retiring as Chairman of the Glasgow Goldsmiths’ Company, and the Silver trade, circa 1845 and dying shortly thereafter in the early 1850’s. Robert Gray is credited in large part to the establishing of a silver assay office in Glasgow; fed up with having to travel to Edinburgh to have his wares assayed the petitions from Robert Gray contributed significantly to the grant of an assay in Edinburgh. (Palace of History, Scottish Exhibition, 1911).
