Antique English Silver / 06_10 (scroll down to see image)

Provenance: George Augustus, Prince of Wales and later King George II of England and Elector of Hanover. Thence by descent in the Royal House of Hanover until 2005.
     
Each of plain circular form, engraved on the rim with the crest and motto of the Prince of Wales (three feathers out of a coronet and the motto “Ich Dien”) for George Augustus, Prince of Wales.

George Augustus became King George II of England and Elector of Hanover in 1727, and in 1738 discreetly sent these plates, along with other silver, to Hanover, in northern Germany. On the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, became King of Hanover. Queen Victoria asked him to return all the English Royal plate at Hanover, but he refused, nearly causing a major diplomatic incident. His son, George Frederick, succeeded to Hanover but was deposed during the Seven Weeks War in 1866. The Prussian troops sacked Herrenhausen but failed to find the Royal plate hidden in a vault on the grounds and covered with lime and debris. A significant portion of the Hanoverian plate was dispersed in the 1920s, but this set of plates remained in the family until 2005.