Posts: 10
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 12-03-2002 11:25 PM            

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I would like to know more about tea sets from the 1815-1840 time period, their rarity and availability on the current market I have a three pc. set by Garrit Eoff which I would like to date. The pot, sugar and cream are all oblong, footed on ball feet. The body is fluted and above the fluting is a band with pastorial and sailing scenes. The handles are angular and the filials are button shaped.

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Registered: May 99

posted 12-04-2002 09:01 AM            

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There's good news and bad news. Garret Eoff (1779-1858) worked alone only for a relatively short time, and was in various partnerships with other men a lot of the time. However, it is hard to know if he made things on his own and in partnership. But my take is that your mark is early. Eoff & Howell operated in the early 1800's (1805 or so). So your set is early, and from the sound of it, you have a particularly flashy example of a late federal/early empire set. Garret Eoff was apprenticed to Abraham G. Forbes until 1798. I can't find any more precise dating of Eoff's solo mark, so an 1800-1815 date is safe. Stylistically it seems to be more toward 1810, with the elaborate die-rolled banding and the oblong shape with ball feet that you describe.

The bad news, if there is any, is that federal silver of this period is very plentiful, and as such is less valuable than earlier federal silver (1780s-90s) and colonial silver. Even my own Newark Museum must have ten teasets from the 1800-1830 period, because there was enough of it in local families to be given to us. This was an era when Americans were getting richer, and buying more silver than ever before. Three-piece sets (sometimes four, with a matching waste bowl) appear frequently on the auction block. You'd have to check with a big auction house or an antique dealer to find out what a real price might be. But, you see, for my money this makes such silver better, because it's accessible to "ordinary" people.

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Registered: Dec 2002

posted 12-04-2002 09:05 PM            

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Thank you for your response it is quite helpful. I particularly like some of the plain empire silver and it is good to know that it is available and even better that it is not fashionable and still affordable. However, other than my own instinct and taste, I have very little experience in this area of collecting and it seems like there is very little written about this period, though the period before and after are quite "hot" topics. Markings are rare and so often the maker is unknown, which in some ways is helpful in that the piece has to be judged on its own merits. In collecting pieces from this era do you have any suggestions of what to look for or look out for? Are there certain makers that stand out? Also living on the West coast this type of silver does not turn up often, are there any dealers that stand out in this particular field? Many thanks.

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Posts: 1265
Registered: May 99

posted 12-05-2002 09:11 AM            

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There is a west coast dealer (whose name escapes me, typically--but his firm name is Argentum, or the Leopard's Head--Weldon, perhaps?) who would be a good resource for such silver. But your best bet is to track the east coast auction houses, where this stuff surfaces in larger quantity. Not just Sotheby's or Christie's, but Skinner's in Boston and other, smaller places. A lot of silver migrated west, too.

There are makers of the early 19th century who are more "hot," and they are either southern (anything southern has its own collecting base--Baltimore, Maryland, Charleston); or from NY or PHiladelphia. Fletcher & Gardner, Simeon Chaudron and Anthony Rasch (together or alone); and there are LOTS of NY federal/empire silversmiths, no one of whom seems to draw particular attention, tho' many are well known. Forbes, Bogert, Targee, Halsted, etc. etc. Any chance to post a picture of your set?

What people like most is "animal" features--such as eagle spouts, feet; lion's heads. In the 1820s this stuff can get quite bombastic--big in scale, lots of melon-reeding. Fancy die-roll banding (which you have) is also a plus, rather than just dumb old leaves or scrolls. There are pictorial and even landscape die-rolls known, again like yours, and I'd think this was a real rarity. You get a lot for your money when you buy 1820s silver. Some major and rare things, like tureens, etc. might bring huge sums at auction, but generally "ordinary" forms such as tea wares stay fairly low profile.

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