A Charles II sterling silver tankard, London 1672 by John Gray (free 1647, d.1687)

Of gently tapering cylindrical form with moulded rims, the hollow C scroll handle leading to a flat top lid raised by a double cusp thumbpiece. The lid with a broad rim with protruding front section, all with incised concentric circles. The front engraved with a shield shape cartouche with plume mantling, engraved with initials B over I M in Roman script, all above a later generation of initials B over R E, in Roman script within a circle. Fully marked to right of handle, to the lid in front of the thumbpiece, and maker’s mark IG mullet below in a heart shaped punch to the handle. Engraved underneath with ‘Wtt 33oz=12dtt='.

Height – 17.5 cm / 7 inches

Weight – 1018 grams / 32.73 ozt

John Gray was apprenticed to plateworker John Hill for eight years from May Day in 1639, freedom 7^th May 1647. He became a Liveryman in 1653, Touchwarden in 1672 and second warden in 1679, He was recorded in Leadenhall street in 1669 and by 1677 had moved to Fenchurch street. He bound nine apprentices in total. He did not strike his mark on the 1682 mark plate so is believed to have retired from trade by this time.

Surviving pieces of plate, including this tankard, recorded between 1654 to 1678, Mitchell, D., Silversmiths in Elizabethan and Stuart London: their lives and their marks, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2017, p.367.

This tankard sold Christie’s London, 13 June 2000, lot 119.