Description A matching pair of boxed silver tea caddies with sliding tops. The plain rectangular design with canted corners is typical of the early 1700’s. The lids have a lift off cap which doubles as a tea measure. Each has a hand engraved coat of arms to the front for the Hawkins family. The boxes come in a fitted shagreen box, with brass lock escutcheon. Silver weight 383g, 12.3 troy oz. Height 11.5cm, 4.5ins. Base 7.5 x 4.8cm. Shagreen box height 12cm. London 1717 and 1718. Maker John Farnell. Britannia standard silver – high purity 95.8%. Marks. Each tea box is stamped on the body close to the base with a full set of English silver hallmarks; the base with maker’s mark; sliding lid with maker and lion mark. Caddy box 1 has clear marks throughout and date letter “B” for 1717. Caddy box 2 has a very indistinct date letter, probably “C” for 1718; the marks on the sliding top are indistinct. Arms. The arms are for the Hawkins family. They are marital arms and, as both husband and wife bore the same, they were related. Very probably the arms are for Christopher Hawkins (1694 – 1767) of Trewinnard, Cornwall – barrister, clerk of the Western circuit, vice warden of the Stannaries and deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall 1716 – and his wife Mary Hawkins (1694 – 1780), daughter of wealthy attorney and landowner Philip Hawkins Snr (d, 1737) of Pennans/Pennance, Cornwall. Literature: A tea caddy is a box, jar, canister, or other receptacle used to store tea. The word is believed to be derived from ‘catty’, the Chinese pound, equal to about a pound and a third avoirdupois. The earliest examples that came to Europe were Chinese tea canisters in blue and white porcelain with china lids or stoppers. Tea in the early 18th Century was expensive, and also there was a tax on tea. so early tea caddies were small and made in precious materials such as silver, shagreen or tortoiseshell which reflected the valuable contents within.
