Rare fancy naturalistic 1740s Roker Georgian sterling silver sugar nips/teatongs

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Rare fancy naturalistic 1740s Roker Georgian sterling silver sugar nips/teatongs:
$189.99

We are listing these very rarely seen fancy naturalistic 1740s Georgian sterling silver sugar nips (or tea tongs, as they were known in the 1700s) which were made by the London silversmith Philip Roker II. Sugar nips were the predecessors of cast and bow shaped tongs (which continue to the present day), and most of them were relatively simply shaped. However this pair is another matter - in the middle of George II\'s reign (1727-1760) an extravagantly decorative rococo fashion became popular in England, and this pair is one of the limited number of fancy naturalistic nips produced during that period (and frankly, one of the more elegant looking examples, since rococo pieces can sometimes be a bit excessively decorated). The nips have nicely scrolled arms and shafts which are wrapped with raised sinuous leafy designs (including raised leaves on the outsides of its bowls), a fancy hinge which is covered on both sides with a layered floral design, and they are marked in the older style inside both bowls with a lion passant (in the shape used from 1739-1755) and a PR maker\'s mark. While this mark lacks the crown above it of the mark registered in 1720 by London silversmith Philip Roker II (see page 162 of Grimwade\'s London Goldsmiths 1697-1837), this mark is almost certainly a cut down version of that mark, or one of the unregistered but recorded Roker marks (Grimwade, page 366). The reference book on nips, Eighteenth Century Silver Tea Tongs (whose author also has the silverteatongs website), cites only five known nips by Roker, all of which are fancy/naturalistic examples. These nips are almost 5 inches long, weigh 1.3 ounces, are wonderfully decorated in a naturalistic style, and they are in very good condition. Almost all surviving nips have been repaired (due to their fragile designs), but I do not see any repairs on this pair. Please view the closeup pictures and judge for yourself (the nips have not been professionally polished). A very rarely seen fancy uniquely decorated pair of Georgian nips.

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