The Mary Eleanor Hibbert Cape Silver Collection
Timed Online Auction, 14 June - 9 July 2025
The Mary Eleanor Hibbert Collection
About the SessionThis auction features the notable private Cape silver collection of Mary Eleanor Hibbert assembled over many decades and featuring rare pieces, including a double beaker, alms dish, sugar bowls, snuff boxes and 18ct gold clasps from the golden age of Cape silversmithing. Master silversmiths included in this collection are Willem Godfried Lotter, Lawrence Holme Twentyman, Johannes Casparus Lotter, Johan Hendrik Vos and Jan Lotter.
About this Item
Provenance
The Mary Eleanor Hibbert Collection
Notes
From Strelitz, Germany, Daniel Heinrich Schmidt arrived at the Cape as a soldier in 1768. He served as sword-cutler in the service of the Dutch East India company from 1768 to 1778, receiving his burgher rights as silversmith in 1779. He married Helena Elizabeth Bastroo on 26 September 1779 and died on 29 December 1811.
Daniel Heinrich Schmidt produced some of the finest Cape silver when compared to his contemporaries and in "A History Of Cape Silver" the author David Heller states: "As a master-craftsman Daniel Heinrich Schmidt may be compared - and not to his disadvantage - with Paul Storr, the most celebrated silversmith of the late George III period with whom he was contemporary. Both were deservedly famous in their respective countries…."
Stephan Welz (1976) Cape Silver and Silversmiths, Cape Town: AA Balkema.
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