Sheffield 1828 by Robert Gainsford and Sheffield 1861 by Henry Wilkinson and Co
A matched pair of George VI and Victorian sterling silver dessert dishes

Each of acanthus leaf form, upon a spreading collet foot, the undersides with two applied frogs. The front with textured decoration and polished sections, engraved to the edge with twin crests, firstly on a ruined tower, a falcon volant with wings expanded, and secondly upon a chapeau, a wolf. Each fully marked to the front. (2)

Length – 24.5 cm / 9.65 inches

Weight – 1040 grams / 33.44 ozt

The crests are for Preston of Preston Richard, Preston Patrick and Nether Levens Hall, Levens, Cumbria, and of the Manor and Abbey of Furness

Possibly for Robert Bouker Preston (1758-1833), the son of Robert Preston (1713-1788) and his second wife Margaret Bouker (1737-1802), the grandson of Richard Preston (1661-1721) and his second wife Mary Hastings (1665-1765). Robert Bouker Preston married on the 4th May 1788 Janet Jenny Wilkinson (1758-1836), and had issue. Richard Preston (1661-1721) from his first wife Dorothy Dennis (d.1697) has a son John Preston of Cockerham later of Preston Patrick (b.1690) who married Alice Mauleverer and had issue.

The obituary of Robert Bouker Preston reveals a man of means but also generosity and may some way explain why a second dish was commissioned some thirty years later to match:

“The late Robert Preston, Esq. It has been currently reported in Liverpool, that the above named gentleman has died worth upwards of half a million of money, which, it is said, will chiefly devolve upon two married daughters, and his grandchildren. Mr. Preston was the artificer of his own splendid fortune, as well as those of his late brothers, and various other branches of his family. His benevolence, ever active, was unbounded. The poor, both old and young, of his native village, Pilling, have for many years very gratefully partaken of this good man's bounty and, not only there, but in many other places, the loss of him will be most acutely felt, and never forgotten; for to him there was no greater gratification in life than studying to administer to the necessities and comforts o of others, and to witness, within the immediate sphere of his influence, the great happiness he was the means to dispense. Mr. Preston possessed a mind framed in no ordinary mould, and was well fitted to be held up as a pattern of steady, persevering industry, and of the most stern, inflexible, and perfect integrity and uprightness. In politics, he was a citizen of the world - he wished well for the civil and religious liberties, and prosperity of his country; and with these sentiments, when occasion required, his purse was widely opened to support their cause. Everybody in Liverpool knew honest Robert Preston. As to his religion, he was an Unitarian on conviction, and it might be truly said of him, as it is of his great Master, that his time was occupied in “going about doing good." (7 Dec 1833 Lancaster Gazette)

Robert Gainsford

There are two main formats of leaf form dishes produced by this firm, another pair of the same form as the present lot also of 1828 was sold Christie’s London, 2 June 2009, lot 316 (£16,250 incl. prem), a graduated set of four of this shape of 1829, was sold Adam’s Dublin, 17 June 2018, lot 27 (€16,500).

The second form is more symmetrical in shape, such as a pair of 1828 sold these rooms, 29 April 2025, lot 31 (£2268 incl. prem), and a set of twelve of this form of 1833 were sold Sotheby’s, The Ballyedmond Collection, 23 May 2017, lot 448 (£20,000).