The Mary Eleanor Hibbert Cape Silver Collection

Live Virtual Auction, 9 July 2025

The Mary Eleanor Hibbert Collection
About the Session

This 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.


Sold for

ZAR 128 975
Lot 8
  • A Cape silver coffee pot, Daniel Heinrich Schmidt, c.1768-1811


Lot Estimate
ZAR 120 000 - 160 000
Selling Price
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
ZAR 128 975
Auction Catalogue

About this Item

Cape Colony
A Cape silver coffee pot, Daniel Heinrich Schmidt, c.1768-1811
vase-shaped body with beaded borders, the side applied with an ebonised handle, the domed hinged cover surmounted by a bud-and-leaf finial, on a stepped circular foot and square base, 770g, 26cm high

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.

View all Daniel Heinrich Schmidt lots for sale in this auction



More from The Mary Eleanor Hibbert Cape Silver Collection

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A Cape silver beaker, Johannes Casparus Lotter, c.1760
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A Cape silver salver, Daniel Heinrich Schmidt, c.1768-1811
A Cape silver salver, Daniel Heinrich Schmidt, c.1768-1811
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A Cape silver two-handled sugar basket, Daniel Heinrich Schmidt, c.1768-1811
A Cape silver two-handled sugar basket, Daniel Heinrich Schmidt, c.1768-1811
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A Cape silver table snuff box, Willem Godfried Lotter, c.1770-1810
A Cape silver table snuff box, Willem Godfried Lotter, c.1770-1810
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A Cape silver beaker, Jan Lotter, c.1813-1817
A Cape silver beaker, Jan Lotter, c.1813-1817
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A Cape silver snuff box, Johannes Marthinus Lotter, c.1844-1879
A Cape silver snuff box, Johannes Marthinus Lotter, c.1844-1879
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