London 1773 by John Carter
A George III sterling silver tea caddy

Of cube form with a hinged flush lid surmounted by a detachable cast finial formed as a flowering prunus branch. Bright cut engraved decoration to each edge of trailing oak leaves. The front engraved with a contemporaneous crest of a leopard passant, bezantée, collared and lined, holding in the dexter paw a trefoil slipped. Lock mechanism, key deficient. Fully marked underneath, the lid and finial unmarked.

Length – 9.2 cm / 3.6 inches

Weight – 469 grams / 15.08 ozt

The crest is for Harvey of Suffolk and Devonshire

This form of caddy, with its prunus finial, is a plainer version of the tea-crate caddy design popular in the late 1760s and early 1770s. Realistically modelled after Chinese wood tea crates, most caddies of this design--whether cube-form or drum-form--bear the mark of Aaron Lestourgeon and are engrave with Chinese characters. The workman's ledgers of Parker and Wakelin document that Lestourgeon supplied them with this type of caddy. In 1768, Parker and Wakelin ordered "two square tea tubs" for their client, banker Richard Cox. The records show that the assembly of the "tubs" was made by outworker silversmiths Ansill and Gilbert, but that Lestourgeon fitted them with locks and decorated the caddies, charging Parker and Wakelin for "graving of Characters." Since Lestourgeon first registered his own mark in 1767, it is possible that he was working directly for Parker and Wakelin in his early years. Helen Clifford, "The Organization of an Eighteenth century Goldsmith's Business," The International Silver & Jewellery Fair, February 1990, for the details of Richard Cox's order.