A Charles I provincial West Country silver seal top spoon, Salisbury circa 1640 by John Ivie (d. 1664)

Fig shaped bowl, tapering stem with a gilded finial, the terminal prick dot engraved with initials RC and an unclear date, either 1652 or 1676. Marked only to bowl with makers mark I.V above three pellets all in a pelleted circle.

Length – 18.4 cm / 7.25 inches

Weight – 54 grams / 1.74 ozt

Provenance: Hampton House, Richmond upon Thames

For further biographical reading on John Ivie see Kent, T., (1993), Salisbury silver and its makers 1550 to 1700, Journal of The Silver Society, Spring 1993, p.32-34.Although Kent described Ivie’s mark of an I in a doted circle as being his only known mark, other variants of an IV mark in a dotted circle has since come to light. A spoon by Ivie with an identical finial to the one of the present lot is illustrated on Ibid, P. 28.