Simon Rosenau Hanau 930 Fine Silver Tea Caddy, English Import Marks 1899

Product Details

Antique 930 Fine Silver repousse tea caddy, Hanau, Germany.  The tea caddy was made by the firm of Simon Rosenau *, circa 1890s and bears the German state mark for silver (the crescent moon and crown, compulsory by 1888) and 930 to indicate the fineness of silver.  The tea caddy has further impressed import marks for London 1899, England.  The importer’s mark J.S is that of John George Smith, listed as a “Foreign agent”; an importer of foreign made silver objects in the later 1890’s.

The tea caddy depicts two different scenes of a couple in romantic courtship in 18th century attire, framed within asymmetrical Rococo scrolls.

The two handles sides are decorated with garlands of flowers and the finial is a pineapple, a symbol of prosperity and hospitality.

5 3/4” (14.6cm) high, 4” (10.2cm) square.

$4995.

* The firm of Simon Rosenau was established in 1862 in Bad Kissingen, Bavaria, by Simon Rosenau (1839-1920) as a “Hofantiquar”, supplier of antiques to the Bavarian royal court.  His son Hermann Simon Rosenau (1861-1943) took over the family business in the 1890’s and started selling antique silver in the Hanau style, made for the firm by Schleissner and Neresheimer, prominent Hanau silver manufacturers.  H.S. Rosenau retired in 1932, moving to Munich then Paris.

Rosenau exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World’s Colombian Exhibition.