How to Look at: Silver

‘This is the best of the best,’ says Timo Koopman. ‘This is the equivalent of a Van Gogh, a Rembrandt.’ 

The director of Koopman Rare Art is enthusing about a magnificent pair of silver candelabra made by preeminent London goldsmith Paul Storr in 1816, during the Regency period. In the video, Koopman explains not just the history of the pieces, but their symbolism and the details that make them so significant to an expert.

The candelabra were commissioned by the Earl of Lonsdale just at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a period that saw an upwardly mobile middle class adopt a domestic opulence previously reserved for the aristocracy. The earl was a northern coal magnate who spent £200,000 building and furnishing his Lake District residence, Lowther Castle. The castle has stood picturesquely derelict since the 1950s, but much of its stunning contents have survived. At a time when light and heat were luxuries, the rich would light their grand houses with hundreds of candles, and the symbolic decoration of candelabra was intended to reflect on the education and nobility of their owners. 

Koopman elaborates on the features to look out for in antique silverware: style, date, provenance, condition and overall look: ‘The eye doesn’t lie,’ he says.

Watch the video for the whole story.

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