Victorian sterling silver four bottle tantalus hallmarked…
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Victorian sterling silver four bottle tantalus hallmarked London 1840, maker: Charles Reily & George Storer, with four cut glass decanters/bottles, two pairs slightly different, stoppers may not be original, with chips to three stoppers

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  • Tantalus - A tantalus is a container for holding two or three glass or crystal bottles of alchoholic drinks. A tantalus may take various forms, the most common being made from silver, silver plate or wood with the three bottles in a circle or two bottles in line with a central handle. A larger version has three bottles in a line with two end supports and a horizontal top and handle. To prevent unauthorised access, some tantalus have a locking mecahnism that prevents the bottles and stoppers being removed from the bottles when secured.

    A box tantalus, as the name implies is an elaborate wooden box made of a fancy timber such as coramandel, with divisions for the bottles and a lockable lid. Some of these type are designed for liquers and include the liquer glasses set into fitted holders.
  • Sterling Silver - Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of another metal, usually copper. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is relatively soft and the addition of the very small amount of copper gives the metal enough strength and hardness to be worked into jewellery, decorative and household objects.
  • Victorian Period - The Victorian period of furniture and decorative arts design covers the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. There was not one dominant style of furniture in the Victorian period. Designers used and modified many historical styles such as Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, Neoclassical and others, although use of some styles, such as English Rococo and Gothic tended to dominate the furniture manufacture of the period.

    The Victorian period was preceded by the Regency and William IV periods, and followed by the Edwardian period, named for Edward VII (1841 ? 1910) who was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India for the brief period from 1901 until his death in 1910.

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