Antique English Silver - 12 (scroll down to see image)

A George I Octagonal Coffee Pot
London circa 1720
by Gabriel Sleath
Height: 10 1/2"; Weight: 36 ozs.

The arms are those of Wilson with another in pretense.

This piece is a duty dodger. From 1719 to about 1758 a high tax was levied on silver. To avoid the tax (dodge the duty), silversmiths incorporated old pieces of marked silver into new objects, to make it look as though the new object had been to the hall and been marked. In spite of the harsh penalties for making duty dodgers (a £100 fine or two years of hard labor), the practice was common, and duty dodgers were made by all the most prominent silversmiths. Paul de Lamerie, George Wickes, and Peter Archambo were consistent offenders. In recent years, the Goldsmiths’ Hall has made it a practice to cancel the hallmarks on duty dodgers and to number them to indicate when the marks were canceled.