Drinking Vessels

The first beakers were made before English silver was hallmarked and are relatively common in England and the Continent of Europe but are not often found in America. The basic form varies very little: 16th and early 17th century examples are taller and have a slightly broader base than those of the 18th century. They were not made in the 19th century.

Beakers are marked in a group underneath. 


The smaller form of the beaker is the tumbler cup, found in England between 1660 and the end of the 18th century. These are hammered up from a single piece of silver ("raised"). As most of the weight is at the base, they tumble upright if pushed over on their side, hence the name. Examples from the 17th century tend to be broader than they are high and are usually of plain form.

The earliest domestic jugs appear in about 1660. Except the very first ones, they are almost invariably of baluster form and relatively plain throughout the 18th century. Until the end of the reign of George I they are sometimes found with covers. The grander examples were occasionally made in pairs. As the handles are silver and without insulation, they probably held only cold liquid.

Tankards, which differ from mugs in being lidded, were made in vast numbers from 1660 - 1780. As taste turned from ale to wine and spirits, tankards began to lose their popularity. Early tankards are straight-sided and late 17th-century examples are sometimes chased with gadroons or acanthus leaves, applied with cut card work, or engraved with chinoiserie. The 18th-century tankard was plain, perhaps with a coat of arms. Most pieces made in the 19th century are presentation or commemorative items.

Image courtesy of Schredds of Portobello

The earliest mugs date from the 1680s have a shape derived from contemporary pottery and are bulbous with a cylindrical reeded neck. Those made at the start of the l8th century have straight, slightly tapered sides on a moulded base; the baluster shape gradually predominates after 1730, although many of the mugs that were made in Newcastle retain their straight sides. While 17th-ccntury mugs are found with chinoiserie engraving or chased with gadroons, those from the 18th century were usually plain, and any decoration is of a later date. With the onset of the 19th century, mugs lost their practical use, but became popular christening presents. The later mug is therefore smaller and highly decorated, Victorian examples being particularly ornate.
Silver goblets were made in from the very earliest times but by the end of the 17th century, they seem to have fallen out of favour only to reappear in the 1760s. The form became standardised by the end of the 18th century with a plain bowl on a trumpet-shaped foot. This becomes more elaborate during Regency times and the Victorians took the decoration further still , in extreme examples hardly any plain surface remains.