William Moore
Active 1840- 1863
Recorded working at St Johns St in 1840, 13 St Johns St in 1841, 36 St Johns St in 1842 to 1854, 40 St Johns St in 1855 to 1858, 31 St Johns St in 1859, 21 St Johns St in 1860 to 1862 and 31 St Johns St in 1863.
A Cape silver snuff box by William Moore, who was previously thought to have only produced flatware, so this is a rare example. The snuffbox is the traditional rectangular shape, plain except for the engraved lid with scrolls and flowers around an irregular cartouche, which has never been engraved. The box also has a cast silver thumb piece, also with flowers and scrolls, and the interior is gilded. The box is lovely quality and a pleasing weight (81 grams). Both the lid and the base are clearly hallmarked, the lid with makers mark W.M only, the base has 5 hallmarks, 4 pseudo-English hallmarks arranged around the W.M makers’ mark. These include pseudo-Georgian duty mark, pseudo crowned leopard’s head town mark, pseudo date letter a and a 4th indistinct mark, possibly another head shaped duty mark. William Moore usually used a WM mark without dot, so this is a different punch, it is recorded on the website www.capesilvermarks.co.za. The pseudo date letter a is regularly seen on Cape silver, used by silversmiths Twentyman, Waldek, Townsend and Beck, they also used the pseudo duty and town marks, it is assumed they either shared workshops or punches, or took over punches when someone stopped working. William Moore was a successful retailer in Cape Town between 1840 and 1863 and was previously thought to have only retailed flatware (Heller Vol. II page 111).
Weight: 81 grams
Dimensions: 6.5 cm by 4.0 cm
Provenance: Leopard Antiques