Silver Table centre pieces

In my career as a sporting agent I have visited many big houses and I have always been impressed by the dining room collection of silverware. In particular my eye was always drawn to the dining table usually in wonderful flame red mahogany ; I think from Honduras or Cuba. In their unmade state, these tables often sported a lustrous collection of solid silver game birds and beasts of the chase, usually in a line down the length of the table. I think that those in the know could judge the familys wealth by the size and number of the pieces!

Whilst selling my cufflinks I was asked by a friendly Edinburgh jeweller if I could supply these Silver Table Centrepieces as their source had dried up and they could no longer be obtained. This is just the sort of challenge I enjoy and set off hot foot to talk to my contacts in Birmingham. I drew a complete blank - the best I could do was to start from scratch and commission a wax model from my very tallented modeller Beth. I was told that in this market biggest was best and that the old company of Vanders had supplied the trade with these items for over 100 years but that they had gone out of business some time ago. So was it possible to start from scratch; I discussed a large stag with my wax modeller Beth, no exact quote for the wax model was forthcoming as it was a big job and obviously time consuming so I asked for a rough idea - 5 to 10 thousand pounds was the reply and at that point I think I had a coughing fit.

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As this was just to make the wax model this clearly was not on. So I made one last phone call to a chap who has been in the trade all his life and the response was immediate, yes he thought he knew who had cast Vanders work years ago and that he thought that these casters were still in buisness - in fact they had cast for him some large silver candlesticks the previous year. What a turn up - in fact they have around two thousand of Vanders original moulds ( retained in lieu of unpaid bills ) and they could offer me birds and beasts in various sizes exactly as supplied by Vanders. After some more phone calls we came up with the original silversmith and the original chaser who both worked for Vanders before their demise. What a turn around.

All my advisers in the trade told me that the true value of Vanders pieces was in the final chasing - that in your hand you could see and feel the exact shape of the animal or bird despite the fact that it was silver.

So I commissioned the Stag shown in the photos it is made by the lost wax process in 6 seperate pieces which are cast in vacuum ( a must for larger castings - no need for this with my cufflinks as they are small; they are cast in a centrifuge ). These 6 pieces are then soldered together by the silversmith and then the whole is chased ( engraved ) by hand to pick out the fantastic detail that distinguishes all these works. As the point is made so strongly, I opt for twice the amount of time to be spent chasing the work to produce a supreme article. Indeed my Edinburgh jewellers have told me that the stag is better than the original Vanders work!

At present I have for sale a stag in solid sterling silver. This is shown in the pictures. It is 8" long by 8" high and weighs 850 grams, it is I think a great first piece. Cost £1920 plus Vat. 12" Stag Cost £2600 plus Vat. I have also commissioned a pair of Grouse weighing 1800 grams which will be ready in October 08. They cost £3500 plus Vat. Next a small pair of pheasants 6" long weighing 500 grams cost £1804 inc Vat Larger 10" pheasants weighing 1300 grams cost £3429 inc Vat Larger again 12" pheasants weighing 2400 grams cost £5408 inc Vat All three sets of pheasants are cock and hen - both birds are displaying, the hen with wings outstretched and the cock wings down and head erect. I am told that these were the most popular of all the models.

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Lastly I have commissioned a snipe weighing 500 grams and the cost is £1015 inc Vat.

These are expensive items so I should be happy to send them to interested parties for their inspection, without obligation. All enqiries will be gratefully received.

We have other foxes, woodcock, salmon etc so please talk to me if there is something that you require.