COMMISSIONS

The Roland and Leta Hill Trust donated a very fine armoire to the South African Cultural History Museum.

All six silver Schmidt handles had been replaced with rope and the left hand door escutcheon was absent. The right hand door escutcheon and those on the three drawers were still in place.

The brief to the museum was that the replacements must be made in South Africa. The Museum Director, Marius le Roux attempted, unsuccessfully, to find any commercial company, university jewellery department or jewellery school willing to tackle the work.

Don Sheasby was approached by the Museum's metals restorer, Bill Pace, who asked Don if he would be prepared accept the commission ?

Don accepted.

Don collaborated with caster Errol Harrison, molds were made and the handles and escutcheon were cast. They were then patinated to exactly match the extant originals on the armoire.

Bill Pace subsequently fitted them all to the armoire.

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An unusual occurrence happened when Don was about to punch his own maker's mark on the left hand, mirrror image door escutcheon which he had made. He had the original Daniel Heinrich Schmidt right hand escutcheon, with its DHS mark, right there, to copy the placement of the mark on the mirrror image piece. Then with the hammer on the point of falling, it occurred to Don that his own initials DJS, also in a rectangular field, the same size as Schmidt's, could with a bit of rubbing be blurred to look like Schmidt's mark, and be passed off as original Schmidt pieces.

What to do ?

So it went to a phone call to the Cape Silver expert, Stefan Welz in Johannesburg, who agreed it was a problem. It was eventually agreed that Don strike his mark on the back of the escutcheon and handles, and accompany it with a 925 mark, which is a modern useage for Sterling.

Which is why the handles and left escutcheon on the Rowland and Leta Hill armoire appear not to have a maker's mark...........because they're on the reverse sides.

This collaboration led to Stefan sending all Cape Silver restoration work that arrived at Stefan Welz & Co., and later Strauss & Co, to Don. It was a very satisfying and fruitful partnership, benefitting both of them over several decades.

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THIS STERLING SILVER GOBLET WAS RAISED FROM SHEET AND DECORATED BY DON SHEASBY. THE JADES AND CARNELIANS WERE SPECIFICALLY CUT BY LORNA QUINTON FOR THE GOBLET.

The goblet was completed and stamped on 1 October 1990, and bears the following marks :

DJS for Donald John Sheasby

SHEASBY QUINTON being Don and Lorna's surnames, making up their official business name

SILVER (with a mis-strike...SILV), and a 925 denoting fineness

1.10.1990 for the date

Its total weight is 440 grams

This goblet was exhibited at the Mineralogical Society of South Africa's Gem show, held at the Claremont Civic Centre. (See Gallery)

The processes used to create this unique article can be seen in the TUTORIALS section

A VERY FINE CAPE STINKWOOD AND TEAK ARMOIRE

PARTIALLY FITTED WITH ORIGINAL JOHANN HASSE SILVER FITTINGS AND SEVERAL MODERN REPLACEMENTS BY DON SHEASBY, CAPE TOWN

REPORT ON THE FITTINGS ON THE ARMOIRE, LOT 375

24 October 2014

For Attention :

Ms. Sophie- Louise Fröhlich

Stephan Welz & Co.

The Great Cellar

Alphen.

Lot 375 – The Cape Stinkwood Teak Armoire - Fine Art & Collectibles Sale, 28 & 29 October 2014

Dear Sophie-Louise

I have examined the armoire and would like to offer the following observations on the fittings :

The Maker’s Mark on the door and drawer escutcheons appears to be “HI” and therefore is correctly listed as unknown ?

May I suggest that the mark might have been struck upside down, hence it could be read as “IH” and consequently be the mark of JOHANN HASSE who died in 1779. 1 Compare the mark shown on page 148 with the photographs, attached, showing the mark on the escutcheon, as observed on the armoire, and inverted.

What are the chances of a mark being struck upside down ? Not as remote as one might think ; consider that silversmiths of the time probably made up their own punches, (hence some of them were fairly crude), and if made out of round bar, it could easily be held incorrectly at the moment of punching.

I can identify with this myself, having struck my own mark - upside down - with my own handmade punch.

The drawer handles, plates and escutcheons.

The silver escutcheons and later brass handles and plates present an interesting conundrum…….(refer to the photographs)

The centre drawer escutcheon was originally one of the handle plates, as evidenced by the two square holes through which the handle pillars were fitted.

Also, the keyhole edges are far ‘crisper’ than those on the two original drawer escutcheons – particularly at the ‘points’ where the round hole intersects with the wedge shape. This because a key has been inserted into the newer keyhole less frequently, hence less wear at the point where the key barrel strikes the silver.

For whatever reason, the original silver handles, pillars and plates were replaced with ones made in brass. Interestingly, the handle drops and the pillars are of a quality consistent with that of the silver escutcheons, and finer than that of the brass handle plates.

This leads me to believe that the original silver handles and pillars were possibly the models for casting the brass ones, whereas the handle plates were fairly rudimentary handcut and engraved copies of the originals.

The events which resulted in the strange combination of handles and escutcheons can be considered extremely fortuitous, should the new owner ever wish to consider replacing the brass components with accurate silver replicas.

The centre escutcheon can revert to its original function as a handle plate. (The keyhole can have a silver insert soldered into place – this can be made almost invisible on the obverse, but must be made obvious on the reverse, including the mark of the modern maker and a silver standard mark, not utilized in the 18th Century – I would suggest ‘925’ – denoting Sterling.

The handle drops and pillars could be replicated using the brass ones as models.

The handle plates can be accurately reproduced due to having the one original handle plate, as to size, placement of the square pillar holes and engraving. All new components to carry the modern maker’s marks and standard, (925).

Finally, the two door, and two drawer escutcheons would provide accurate patination colouring to copy onto the new components.

Let me know what you think.

Kind regards

Don Sheasby

1 Stephan Welz. Cape Silver and Silversmiths (A.A. Balkema 1976) 133,148 (Maker’s mark)

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Following this report, Pier Rabe, Antiques dealer and knowledgeable about Cape Furniture investigated. He knew of a similar armoire in the Paarl Museum with verified Johann Hasse marks and he compared those marks to these inverted marks and was able to establish and verify the marks to be from the same punch.

This then rescued a partial set of fittings from being by an unknown Cape silversmith to being verified as by Johann Hasse

Subsequent to this, the armoire was bought by my client Jan S who asked me to effect all the necessary changes to have a full set of silver handles to join the Hasse escutcheons.

The result was beautiful as can be seen in the photograph above.

A comprehensive photographic essay of the whole commission, (and restoration), process can be viewed in the TUTORIAL section

LID AND FINIAL, made by Don sheasby, to fit the sucrierre by an unknown Cape Silversmith.

This sucrierre has an interesting history :

The sugar bowl, sans lid and one ring, was discovered and bought by a Parow, Cape Town, antiques shopowner, This was from an elderly lady who was clearing out prior to moving to a home. The shopowner brought it to me, and although I could find no hallmark, was sure that it was a Cape Silver piece.

I arranged its sale to one of my clients, who had an extensive Cape Silver collection. He too, was convinced it was Cape Silver. He commissioned me to make and fit a ring to match the existing, balled wire ring. He then started the long search to track the maker - unsuccessfully as it turned out. So, he sold the sucrierre on.

Some years later, I was asked by a gentleman if I could make a lid and finial for a Cape sugar bowl he owned.

When shown to me, I immediately recognised it as the same bowl, and accepted the commission. Although the bowl itself carried no Maker's mark, I applied my marks to the components I had made, namely, the lid, the finial, the gilded melon and the finial nut. The finished work turned out very well. This owner subsequently placed the sucrierre with a Cape Town Long Street silver antiques dealer on consignment.

This shopowner, not recognising my maker's mark, attempted to pass off the, obviously later, lid and finial as a Spanish silver marriage to the "Cape" bowl. Unfortunately for her, an expert on hallmarks on examining the piece, who did know my mark, told her that the additions were made by the Cape Town silversmith, Don Sheasby - ME !

This lady then fraudulently had my maker's marks removed. Rather stupidly, the man, whom I know, who effected their removal actually boasted to me that he had done this!

I then wrote a detailed letter of all that had occurred, including macro photographs of my marks on the work I had done, and sent the letter to the pre-eminent auction house in Cape Town, warning them of the fraud. This letter found its way to all other auctioneers.

It became impossible to sell the sucrierre in South Africa, and it was eventually shipped to, and sold in Russia.

A very detailed sequence of pictures of the making of the lid and finial can be seen in the TUTORIALS section

An interesting footnote: A longstanding client of mine one day showed me a lid and finial for a sucrierre, (no maker's marks), he had found in a shop in London! Imagine his surprise when I told him the story above. He commissioned me to make a sugar bowl to match the lid.

These candlesticks presented a difficult problem. Beautifully crafted, they were topped with a pair of putti who had lost their ornamentation. The one putto had an ugly pair of jagged lightning-like ribbons crossed over and stuck on the front with pres-stick, while the other had nothing apart from a hole at the navel. (See pic at end)

The first consideration was to establish, who made them, where and when, in order to examine images of the maker's other similar work to copy.

With the help of silver expert, 'Dognose' of the research site 925-1000.com, it was ascertained that the punched mark of the Crowned Eagle crossed with the Cross of Savoy represented the fineness of the metal as being 950, purer than the British Sterling of 925. The curved Dolphin is the mark for the city of Genoa. But none of the standard works delivered up the name of a maker with the mark FC.

The only recourse was to attempt to gather the information from Italian museum sources. After many letters, back and forth, all translated by my Italian-fluent sister Carol in the UK, were sent to Director Dottore Simonetta of the Museo degli Argienti, it was thrilling to eventually receive the following reply, also translated by Carol :

Dear Don Sheasby

We hereby send you the information you requested in relation to the artist operating in Genoa in the nineteenth century.

We have tracked down the punch with the monogram that you have indicated. It appears to be Francesco Canepa, operating in the city of Liguria, maker of other articles for the Savoy court.

Sincerely

Dr. Ornella Casazza

Director of the Silver Museum, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

So, now faced with the lack of similar work with which to compare, it fell to me to create a suitable resolution for the putti's decoration.

I devised ribbon bows at the navels whose long trailing ends looped around the arms and legs of the cherubs, with them holding a ribbon end in their one hand.

When the current owner acquired the armoire, he was given a black and white photograph of the cupboard with a description written on the back in Afrikaans. Below left, is a picture of it, with a translation on the right.

The cupboard is made from stinkwood and is about 300 years old. It has no nails or screws in it, only pegs and it can be disassembled into smaller pieces for transport.

8 feet high without feet,

5 feet wide inside, 24 inches deep inside,

3 planks inside, 3 small drawers inside,

4 long large linen-fold drawers below.

Miss D. van Rensburg,

Last Shift,

Heidelberg,

Cape Province.

Phone 49

PETER VISSER ANTIQUES INVITED DON AND LORNA TO PARTICIPATE IN AN EXHIBITION CALLED "ANGELS AND DEMONS"

The Hell's Angels Bikers were made in Sterling silver. Lorna cut and polished the stones : The girl and right hand rider's denim jackets were of Dumortierite, the left hand rider's leather jacket was of Black tigereye, while the girl's hair and pony tail was of yellow Tigerseye. The girl was constructed in such a way that she can ride pillion behind either of the male riders.

They made up the DEMONS.

The ANGELS were a series of Alien faces, the reasoning was that in ancient times Aliens, arriving from the heavens in spacecraft would have been considered Gods, or ANGELS ! Lorna made and set the Aliens/Angels. The one on the left was cut out of black Tigerseye, the eyes were clear quartz backed with 23ct gold-plated lizard skin - (the same as used for Peter's Ostrich-egg humidors, below). The other two were of Spangled Iolite, with clear quartz eyes. On their silver surrounds Lorna chased the words "I BELIEVE"

The set was subsequently sold to Jan S, a patron of Don and Lorna. He has a large collection of work he has commissioned over a period of 40 years, as well as an enormous amount of restoration work.

THE MAKING OF A FINIAL AFTER THE STYLE OF DH SCHMIDT FOR A SUCRIERRE BY THE UNKNOWN CAPE SILVERSMITH "NHS"