Maker's mark & crests on George III tea service

[carolt07]

Am hoping someone may be able to provide some information regarding a five-piece Georgian-era tea service, purchased in England about 80 to 90 years ago, that we recently inherited. The hallmarks include a lion passant guardant, a crowned leopard’s head, a George III duty mark, and a date stamp (K) indicating it was made in 1805-6. Have done a bit of research into what the hallmarks mean, but am totally in the dark regarding the maker's mark and the crests that appear on either side of each piece.

The maker’s mark appears to be J.E (the E looks like a reversed numeral 3, with the full stop centred between the letters) inside a roughly squarish-shaped depression with ballooned corners.

The larger crest consists of a crowned shield with a St Andrews-style cross on one half (can’t quite make out what is on the left half) supported by a crowned woman holding an anchor on the left, and a hatted male figure holding a flag on the right. The motto beneath is “Secundis Dubiisque Rectus”. The smaller crest consists of a large crown over a sailing ship with a broken mast, and the motto “Disce Pati”.

Any clues about the maker, or the identity of the person/family for whom it was made, would be much appreciated.


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[user701]

The makers mark is for John Emes, that particular mark was used 1798..1807 (registered Jan 1798)

He made such things as Caster, chamber stick, cruet, flatware, goblet, tea & coffee service, teapot stand, toast rack, wine funnel.

HTH
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[carolt07]

Thank you very much for identifying this maker’s mark as being John Emes. It was a great help and I can now try to get some more info about him and the silverware he made.

In the meantime I have spent a bit of time trawling though the internet using the phrase “Disce Pati” (or “Learn to suffer”), and am fairly certain that I may have identified the crests. Now know that this is the motto of the clan Duncan, and various branches of the family use it above different forms of a sailing ship (e.g. with full sails, no sails or dismasted) as their crest.

A few more hits on the net then led me to Viscount Adam Duncan, 1st Earl of Camperdown & Baron of Lundie, who was the Admiral commanding the victorious British fleet at the battle of Camperdown in 1797. This was a very important victory and he was subsequently given his titles and a yearly payment of 3000 pounds in gratitude. In his day he was almost as famous as the much younger Nelson became a decade or so later. One of the sites I then visited showed a representation of his crest (copied below), which appears to be a fairly close amalgamation of the two separate crests that are engraved onto the tea service. It include the same words "Secundis Dubiisque Rectus" underneath the shield & the two figures. However, since Adam Duncan died in 1804 and his title passed to his son, it seems more likely that the service (dated 1805-6) may actually have been made for the 2nd Viscount Camperdown. The last member of the family died in the 1930s, so the service was probably acquired when Camperdown House and its contents were subsequently sold off.

Have rather enjoyed finding out a whole lot more about the origins of great auntie Annie’s tea service, and am now inspired to do some more sleuthing into the other antique silver pieces we eventually inherited from her......


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[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Congratulations on possessing such a wonderful piece of history.

John Emes it would appear came from a very wealthy family, he was the son of William Emes, a surveyor of Bowbridge Field near Derby. He was apprenticed to William Woollett on the 7th October 1778 as an engraver for a premium of £105, a huge sum in those days. He was Free 5th July 1786. He entered his first mark, as a plateworker, in partnership with Henry Chawner on the 27th August 1796, the address entered was Amen Corner. His second and third marks, now alone, were entered on the 10th January 1798 and a fourth mark on the 21st July 1802.

Henry Chawner, it would appear, was a clever man and took John Emes into partnership as Emes was willing to inject a large amount of money into the partnership and it also appears that not long after the partnership was formed, that Henry Chawner took a back seat in the business and left the running of it to John Emes. Although John Emes entered solo marks as from 1798, Chawner still was a partner, and was still a partner, allbeit a sleeping one, when Rebeccah, John's widow, entered her mark following John's death in 1808.

Chawner's firm can be traced back to Anthony Nelme c.1680 and still continues today as Edward Barnard & Sons Ltd.

Trev.
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