A good George III two-handled silver Cup and Cover.

A George III two-handled silver Adam style Cup and Cover, London 1784, by Smith and Sharpe. The plain body of the cup and the lid are applied with borders of gadrooning and the handles rise from the lower body into stylised foliate calyxes from which the upper parts of the handle spring. The pull-off lid is of narrow capstan shape topped with a ball finial. One side of the body is engraved with an attractive armorial shield suspended from a bow-tied floral festoon and the lid is engraved with a crest. The arms are as follows:
‘Sable on a bend between a greyhound courant bendways in chief and a dolphin haurient in base argent three torteaux’ for Hollist of Lodsworth, Sussex, impaling ‘Per pale or and gules an eagle displayed double headed azure, armed…‘ for Stone of Surrey. The crest on the lid is that of Hollist.
The Hollist arms on the cup include a mark of cadency for a second son and the arms can therefore be attributed to Richard Hollist, the younger son of John Hollist of Lodsworth, baptised on rhe 24th October 1742, who was a prominent barrister and a member of the Law Council with offices at 6, Pump Court, Middle Temple. His father, John, had inherited the ‘Old House’ and lands in Lodsworth, near Midhurst, in 1701. After marrying Abigail Stone [born in 1702 at Wotton in Surrey, he rebuilt the house in Lodsworth.
John died in 1775 and his eldest son, Reverend Thomas Hollist, died intestate and without children.
Richard,the only surviving son, died in 1813. He had married Eleanora May in Tilehurst, Sussex, in 1771 but they had no surviving children. The Hollist estates were inherited by a kinsman, Anthony Capron, who assumed the surname of Hollist in 1833.

The maker’s mark of Smith and Sharpe shows the cut-off letters of their former partner, Richard Carter: evidently it was easier to trim the existing maker’s mark punch down than to obtain a new one. The fact that the cup is in such good condition allows the ‘setting’ of the hallmarks after assay to be clearly visible. There is an interesting video on the London Goldsmiths’ Company which shows this process. The hand-striking of the marks onto articles left an impression on the reverse side which was then corrected by the ‘setting’ process.

For some discussion of the history of the Smith and Sharp partnership and their link with Richard Carter, see my article on the ‘Research’ tab of this website.