Stock No. 2138	George III Old Sheffield Plate pierced basket
	Extremely elegant George III pierced oval basket on oval foot with very decorative swing handle. The basket is made out of Old Sheffield Plate in circa 1775. The vertical piercing is broken up by a band of beading around the edge of the basket and another one half-way down the body of the basket. Just above the lower band of beading there is a row of pierced, wave-like squirls. This is echoed by an identical band of pierced squirls just below the beading around the edge. Between these two is a band of bright-cut swags interspersed by restrained flowers. The base of the basket is engraved with the coat of arms and the crest of Bullock. Because of the early date of this basket, the engraving was done straight onto the Old Sheffield Plate, slightly exposing the copper beneath. The very attractive shaped swing handle has a rococo mask a third of the way up on either side. It then widens into a curve with pierced decoration between beaded borders.

Condition :-Good considering its age and the amount of use to which these baskets were put. As is to be expected, the copper is showing through on the two lines of beading and on some of the high points of the handle but the silver has remained intact elsewhere. There has been some slight, very well executed, restoration to the handle quite a while ago
Circa :- 1775
Size :- 10.3 inches (26.16 cm) to top of handle x 13 inches (33.02 cm) long x 10.6 inches (26.92 cm) wide
This basket is an early and very graceful example of Old Sheffield Plate. It was originally used for cakes or bread but could also be used for fruit or many other objects, as well as making an extremely attractive table centrepiece on its own. Of all the baskets made in Old Sheffield Plate, it is early pierced and bright-cut examples such as this one which are the most sought after. Old Sheffield Plate was made from around the 1740s to the 1840s, when it was replaced by electro-plating. The method by which Old Sheffield Plate was made was to fuse by heat a fairly thin sheet of sterling silver onto a copper ingot and then roll out the fused metals into one sheet. This was then fashioned to make whatever article was needed.. Between 1763 and 1770 the fusing of silver on both sides of the copper was developed, so that articles such as baskets, sauce boats, entree dishes and anything else on which both sides were visible could be made. It was with this double sided fusion of silver that Old Sheffield Plate really came into its own. However, it was far more difficult to make an object out of Old Sheffield Plate than out of silver and the art was in the hands of real craftsmen. A certain amount of copper showing through the silver is very acceptable to-day and is often welcomed as a sign that the object has not been recently silvered.

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