Only suitable for sale within the UK, due to the ivory content in the teapot and coffee pot handle heat spacers. This item has been registered for exemption under the new Ivory Act and is legal to sell within the UK. We are happy for the registration number (7QTVJ8KE) to be checked with the Animal & Plant Health Agency.
A William IV Four Piece Silver Tea & Coffee Service. Each piece is inscribed "Presented by King William the Fourth to Mr John Fincham on his Launching the Miniature Frigate The Royal Adelaide on the 13th May 1834'.
Each piece features the crest for Fincham. All are of lobed form and raised on spreading leaf feet. The handles are acanthus capped and the rims all with raised horseshoe and leaf detail. The sugar bowl and cream jug have gilded interiors. The coffee pot and teapot with foliate finials.
The Royal Adelaide was a miniature version of the 36-gun frigate `Pique’ as designed by the Chief Surveyor of the Navy, Sir William Symonds. It was built to the order of King William IV for the use of the royal princes on Virginia Water as a yacht and for sail training.’ As commemorated in the engraved inscription on the present service the ship was built at Sheerness in 1834 by John Fincham. Measuring some 50 feet in length it has to be taken apart and reassembled on Virginia Water where it was re-launched in the presence of the Royal family. Among the surviving sections of the ship is the figurehead which is now at the National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth and the cannon which were donated by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, to Cowes Castle.
In excellent condition with moderate surface wear commensurate with age.
Approximate total weight of all four pieces is 2.374 kilos or 76 troy ounces.
(coffee pot 879 grams, teapot 755 grams, sugar bowl 462 grams and creamer 278 grams)
Approximate dimensions are:
Coffee pot: 22 cm height and 26 cm handle to spout length.
Teapot: 17.5 cm height and 27 cm handle to spout length.
Sugar: 13 cm height and 21 cm handle to hande length.
Creamer: 11 cm height and 17.5 cm handle to spout length.
