SILVER SMALLER BOWLS AND SUGAR BOWLS
Small bowls seem to have been mainly for sugar, although some very early ones come from toilet services and were used for powder. Those types which should have covers are worth about half the price if the cover is missing.
The rim foot on the covers of the earlier bowls allowed the cover to be used as a dish for the teaspoons, saucers often not being used.
After the English stopped making antique silver sugar bowls about 1760, the Irish carried on with them, and most of the later examples will be found to be Irish. However, Irish examples never had covers.
Covers should usually be fully marked. With later George II examples, the maker’s mark and lion passant will suffice.
Small bowl and cover about 1700. These early examples are extremely rare and desirable, especially if with cut-card decoration.
George I sugar bowl and cover. Usually marked under the foot and within the rim of the cover.
Irish example - one of the two typical shapes. This one is shallower than English examples, with a thick edge; the other is much deeper with a moulded edge. Both types usually marked underneath. Very fine examples eight inches diameter sometimes fetch fabulous prices - this is the price for an average five inch example about 1725.
Slightly later type - less solid. 1730 - 1745.
The other type of Irish silver sugar bowl referred to. About 1735.
1745 - 1755. The cover still has the rim foot, but the bowl is pear shaped and taller. Usually very solid.
1755 - 1765. Final development of the separate sugar bowl and cover. The latter now has a finial. Usually not such good quality as the previous type.
Typical Irish three-legged bowl, about five inches in diameter. This one is about 1760. Earlier ones would be plainer possibly with lion’s mask and paw feet. Later ones would be embossed with Adam decoration, later ones still quite plain with punch bead edges. Often made in Cork, in which case they are worth more.
A pair of scalloped silver bowls five inches diameter made in 1825. As with many things, small bowls are more valuable.
A selection of Victorian silver small bowls 1860 - 1900