Thanks to a diligent piece of cataloguing by Bonham's in Bath a couple of years ago and a chance Google search I am now the proud owner of an elegent late 18th century silver hot water jug made by William Chawner. It is engraved with the arms of John Stanislaus Townshend of Trevallyn, Denbighshire who is a first cousin several times removed.
More silver from the same family and their cousins from Wincham Hall in Cheshire has appeared on the market over the last few years. The most spectacular was a pair of cake baskets by Paul de Lamerie given as a gift to Lee Porcher Townshend - another first cousin - in recognition of his services on the bench. These came up for sale first at Christies in New York and then were with Marks Antiques in Mayfair. No price mentioned but I dont suppose one would have got much change out of half a million quid. Lee's father Edward Venables Townshend has the dubious distinction of having led the Cheshire Yeomanry in one of the cavalry charges at the Peterloo Massacre. These Townshends' Wincham Hall estate sat right on top of the Cheshire salt deposits, which must have been a significant souce of income for them. Only a fragment of the Hall remains and is now a hotel.
Earlier this year a rococco revival silver soup tureen engraved with the Townshend crest and motto came up at Christie's in London. It was catalogued as being from the Trevallyn branch but my hunch is that it would have been from Wincham where it would have sat alongside the de Lamerie baskets. The picture in Christie's catalogue was not very interesting but in the flesh it was so spectacularly vulgar I was very tempted to put in a bid. Unlike the de Lameries I could have afforded this but for the equivalent of a whole term's worth of school fees I resisted.
My tracking down of family related pieces of silver has been a rather ad-hoc affair. A nice pair of waiters engraved with the arms of Brooke Townshend, a closely related family, came up twice at Christies and I missed them on both occasions, in spite of browsing the catalogue before the second sale. Of course I dont need a pair of waiters like this, but that's not the point if you are a collector.
Some help may be at hand however. I notice that there is now a website which claims to be able to track down family items for you. http://www.myfamilysilver.com/ links a number of dealers and auction house catalogues to an online version of Fairbairn's crests and allows you to register an interest in particular families. Some quite grand dealers appear to have signed up to this including Koopmans and SJ Phillips. I have registered my interests and wait to see what happens.
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