Made for the man about town around 100 years ago , its classic form and quality makes it the perfect gift for the man about town today

The oval shape has a removable cup – so the man about town can share?

Both the top and the bottom of the flask are decorated with an applied four clawed dragon

Dragons symbolise power, wisdom, and prosperity.  In this case the dragons are four clawed.  Five claws were reserved for only the Emperor and four claws were for important mandarins in the imperial court.  For some reason the pesky foreigners also rated four claws sometimes  as is the case in this hip flask

Great fun and very rare!

As is usual with Indian silver it is unmarked but the quality and the style and the detailed scenes are typical of the renowned silversmiths from Lucknow.

Lucknow silver had three major motifs: the jungle, with groves of date palms and various animals, such as dogs, bears, deer and birds; coriander leaves and flowers; and hunting scenes, with lions, tigers, and horses. This presentation bowl is an excellent example of all these features

Look at the photo with the champagne bottle and you will see a rhinoceros – really unusual. And I think those maybe elephant feet that are sticking out at the sides?

This Indian silver bowl was crafted at the time when the British Raj was powerful and this powerful bowl makes an ideal centre piece but is also the perfect size as a wine or champagne cooler

A flamboyant bowl from a flamboyant era

Here are some examples we have found with silver handles

The cup has detailed tranquil scenes repousse worked and stands on a gnarled plum blossom stem

This goblet was a tennis prize presented for a doubles competition at the Kowloon Lawn Tennis in 1907- a world that has disappeared … the lawn is for sure a high rise building and no way are you going to be presented with a finely worked silver goblet as a tennis prize

An interesting gift for a keen tennis player…

The handles have been reworked from their original purpose and have found  new lives as magnifying glasses

The ultra special magnifying glass has to be the one with the silver clad antler horn.  A wonderful gift for the man who is having a special birthday.  The handle would have been part of a carving set

The mother of pearl and silver handles on the smaller magnifying glasses were made from handles that were probably original from sets of fruit knives or forks

The all silver handle of the other large magnifying glass was also probably from a carving set

The ultimate in recycling

This wine funnel is more substantial in form than the more traditional style

The scalloped bowl is finely done

This wine funnel once belonged to an important person – note the coat of arms

Perfect gift for the extra special red wine lover in your life

The quality of the craftsmanship of these fine silversmiths can be seen in profusion with this pot

The finial is in the form of a bud and flower and foliage detail has been worked on the round body of the pot.  This was very much the style of the 1820’s – a tea pot a la mode!

The pot stands on cast feet with shell detail

Nearly two hundred years old and yet the detail is still very crisp

A very special cup of tea!

In days of old the whisky could well have been looked after by the household butler

So.. Lockable decanters were very popular.

Perfect for the serious whisky collector – a different favourite malt in each decanter

Made by Hukin & Heath ( who have pieces in the Victoria and Albert Museum ) these are speical because they are still together after more than 100 years

A single English silver and square cut crystal whisky decanter with a silver collar but this one is different- look at the lock

This  means no-one can pinch that extra special whisky

By Hukin & Heath

These makers were much collected and the quality of this piece reflects the reason

Downton Abbey would be proud!

Perfect for the men in our lives

There is an oval reserve on the lid for engraving

The border of the lid has been worked with the bamboo motif – for resilience

It is rare to find this quality of detail after so long