Lot 18
A RARE GEORGE III PROVINCIAL MATCHED SET OF NINE OLD ENGLISH PATTERN TABLE FORKS (two bottom-marked and seven top-marked), engraved with the crest and coronet of a Baron, by Matthew Boulton and John Fothergill, Birmingham 1776; 17.8 oz (9) * These forks were made three years after Boulton's petition to open the assay office in Birmingham was granted and coincidentally during the year of the Declaration of American Independence. The silversmithing partnership of Boulton & Fothergill was relatively short-lived due to the death of the latter in 1782. making their hallmarked silver pieces very collectable.
