Old Sheffield plate was made by fusing a thin layer of silver onto a copper core, a technique that gave large decorative pieces like this basket the look and cost profile of solid silver without the expense of casting the whole thing in precious metal. This one is oblong and everted in form, panelled with a fluted design and raised on a low pedestal foot, with the swing handle picked out in reeded detail and finished with an applied rose flowerhead bouquet at the centre.
The rim carries a large gadrooned border decorated with scrolls and shells, firmly in the Regency style even though the piece itself dates to the George III period, decoration and reign not always aligning neatly. At the centre of the basket, an engraved armorial crest shows a stag in the rampant position, its chest pierced by an arrow, with a faint outline visible around the panel. Family crests were typically added in sterling silver after the base piece was completed, and the ghost of that inlay is still visible here.
The underside carries Thomas & James Creswick's Sheffield plate mark, a sheaf of arrows taken from the city's coat of arms, used by the firm from 1811 onwards.
Condition notes
Excellent antique condition. Some copper bleeding appropriate to age and use; light soldering and depression to the embossed decoration near one of the hinges.
