African Tribal Art & Antique Collectibles

Rare Fine Antiques is a small, curated page for pre-1925 European antiques held within our wider stock. The current selection is built around four current objects, each with its own collecting field and its own long-tail: late Georgian brass candlesticks, an English candle reflector lamp, a late Victorian Spencer & Co embossing press with its original die, and a set of early 20th-century Chinese export silver goblets on a rosewood tray.

About this collectionWhat sits here and what sits in the specialist silos

This page sits alongside our specialist collections rather than competing with them. Where an object belongs firmly in a specialist field, we show it there: collectible corkscrews under antique and collectible corkscrews, antique microscopes and watchmaker's lathes under antique scientific instruments and watchmaking tools, West African brass and ethnographic art under African tribal art and Akan Gold Weights, antique trade-bead necklaces under African trade bead, millefiori and amber necklaces, and works on paper under antique etchings and prints.

This page is the cabinet for the rest: the pre-1925 European decorative and functional antiques that are too disparate to silo individually but coherent enough to read together as a small curated group.

InventoryThe four objects in the current selection

Typology · Georgian BrassLate Georgian brass candlesticks (c. 1790–1815)

The period from the 1780s to the 1820s is the high point of English brass candlestick production. Late Georgian and early Regency workshops in Birmingham, London and the wider Midlands produced candlesticks in proportion, weight and finish that are still considered the reference standard in English brass. The forms drew on neoclassical taste: balanced proportions, restrained profiles and clean turning work rather than the heavier baroque forms of earlier decades.

Five construction features together place a candlestick in the late Georgian / early Regency window:

• Seamed construction. The stem is rolled sheet brass, seamed along the vertical axis. A visible internal seam down the inside of the socket and stem is the expected signature of the period.
• Turned baluster stem. Stems were turned on a lathe after forming, producing the balanced swellings and steps that define the form.
• Stepped circular base. A stepped foot is typical of the 1790–1820 range; dish-foot and beehive-foot variants are characteristic of slightly earlier 18th-century work.
• Gadrooned drip pan. A finely gadrooned (reeded / ribbed) drip pan integral with the socket, or fitted as an original removable pan.
• Original cloth-covered base. Period candlesticks were finished with a baize or felt base. Hand-applied original cloth is a direct age indicator; later workshop production replaced it or omitted it entirely.

Late Georgian brass candlesticks are usually unmarked. Workshop production of this period rarely carried a maker's stamp; unmarked examples are the norm, not a warning sign, provided construction is consistent with the period. A matched pair is worth substantially more than two singles of similar period - pairs that have stayed together usually show closely matched wear, with the weight of the pair within a few grams.

Typology · Reflector LampsThe English candle reflector lamp, Regency to early Victorian

Candle reflector lamps sit between the era of open candleholders and the introduction of domestic gas and oil lighting. From the late 18th century onward, English workshops produced adjustable candle reading lamps designed to direct and amplify candlelight for desk work, embroidery, reading and scientific observation. The canonical workshop reference is the Palmer's patent magnum candle reading lamp of the early 19th century, with similar forms produced by Argand, Blights and other English and Continental workshops into the 1840s.

The design principle is simple: a candle burns in a fixed holder; a polished metal reflector catches the candlelight and directs it onto the task surface; an adjustable stem allows the reflector to be raised, lowered and rotated. Four features define a quality period example:

• Material. Brass and wrought iron is the dominant combination - brass for visible decorative elements, wrought iron for the adjustable mechanism.
• Adjustability. The diagnostic feature of the type. The better lamps offer two-axis adjustment: vertical slide on the column, plus rotation of the reflector or socket. A lamp that only raises and lowers is a simpler and generally earlier form.
• Base. A weighted brass or cast iron base - essential for stability while being adjusted.
• Condition of mechanism. The slide should move smoothly under its own weight and hold position. Originality of the reflector face (uncleaned, with period silvering intact) is a meaningful value factor.

These lamps are rarely signed. "English, c. 1820–1840" is the honest attribution band for most unsigned survivors; specific workshop attribution requires comparable published examples or a maker's mark.

Typology · Embossing PressesVictorian office seals and the Spencer & Co tradition

An embossing press - also called a seal press, an office seal or a notarial press - is a desk-mounted mechanical device that produces a raised, dry-stamped impression on paper. A pair of engraved dies (one male, one female) are mounted in the jaws of a hinged lever press; pressing the handle forces the paper between the dies and transfers the design as a sharp embossed relief. These were the office standard for authenticating official documents, membership certificates, commercial correspondence and fraternal or lodge papers through the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Spencer & Co of London were one of several established late 19th-century English makers of office equipment, alongside T. Sloper, W. T. Copeland and A. J. Sloper. Their presses are characterised by cast-iron frames, brass fittings and a decorative japanned finish - typically black japanning with gilt floral and foliate decoration - which followed the prevailing Victorian taste for high-quality office furniture. Construction is robust, with replaceable engraved dies housed in the jaws and a long cast-iron lever giving the mechanical advantage needed to produce a crisp impression through bonded paper.

For a collector, the single most consequential feature of any surviving embossing press is whether its original die is present. Presses without their dies are common; dies without their presses are common; intact press-and-die combinations are scarce. When the die names a specific organisation, date or location - as the press in this collection does, retaining the die for the Sons of England Victoria Lodge No. 307, Johannesburg - the press acquires a documentary interest beyond its mechanical function.

Typology · Chinese Export SilverGoblets, retailers and the Shanghai trade

Chinese export silver is silver made in China for Western buyers, principally from the late 18th century through the early 20th century. It originated in the Canton (Guangzhou) trade of the Qing export system, where Chinese silversmiths produced European forms - tea and coffee services, trays, flatware, goblets, vases - decorated with Chinese motifs. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries the trade had moved north to the treaty ports of Shanghai and Hong Kong, dominated by a small number of major retailing firms who subcontracted workshop production.

The major retailing names of the period were Hung Chong & Co., Wang Hing & Co., Luen Wo, Tuck Chang, Sing Fat, Wo Shing and Zee Wo. Many pieces carry a retailer's mark in English letters alongside Chinese character marks for the individual silversmith. Silver standard is typically very high by Western norms - around .900 fine - and often marked with English letters "S" or "SILVER" alongside the retailer's mark and occasional "SHANGHAI", "CANTON" or "HONG KONG" geographic marks.

What to check on Chinese export silver:

• Maker and retailer marks. Look on the underside of each piece. Retailer marks are usually two or three roman letters in a cartouche (WH for Wang Hing, HC for Hung Chong, LW for Luen Wo). Chinese character marks accompany these.
• Silver standard. Late 19th / early 20th century export silver is typically .900 fine or better. An English "S" or "STERLING" stamp, or a clear "90" stamp, is common on quality export work.
• Gilt interior condition. Original gilt interiors retain a warm, even gold surface. Worn gilt shows silver exposure around the rim and base. Regilt interiors (modern electroplate) have a colder, harder tone.
• Weight and gauge. Quality export silver is heavier in the hand than equivalent-size European silver of the period. Thin, light pieces are usually lower-grade.

The set on this page is six petite silver goblets with gilt interiors, served on a contemporary rosewood tray. Attributed to the Shanghai or Hong Kong export trade of the early 20th century. Specific retailer attribution will be added once close-up photography of the underside marks is in place.

AuthenticationCondition, originality and what to expect

Pre-1925 decorative antiques are rarely immaculate. Collectors accept a consistent set of signs of age:

• Age-typical patina on brass, copper, silver and iron
• Minor surface wear on frequently handled parts (candlestick tops, lamp slides, press handles, goblet rims)
• Age-typical oxidation on silver where the gilt is intact
• Minor shrinkage and splits in wooden trays and bases, consistent with age
• Minor case wear on any original cloth, baize, velvet or silk
• Original repair consistent with working life (period soldering on brass, period peening on iron)

What collectors do not accept: aggressive repolishing of brass that removes original patina; replacement of candle liners passed as period; recut or reground dies on embossing presses; regilt interiors on silver represented as original; over-cleaning that has removed marks; replacement parts on adjustable lamps not disclosed as such; non-period assembly ("marriages") of components from different objects. Where an object has been cleaned, restored or altered, this is stated explicitly in the listing.

Untouched patina is the preferred condition. Repolished brass loses both value and character.

ProvenanceThe Guenther family collection - two generations of collecting

The four objects on this page come from the Guenther family collection: a private holding assembled in South Africa over the second half of the 20th century by Egon Guenther, and continued by his son Thomas Guenther. The collection is broader than its African material - it also includes the European antiques shown here, antique scientific instruments, fine art prints and other objects acquired across decades of specialist looking.

Where provenance is stated on a product page, Esteemed Antiques holds the supporting documentation and makes it available to serious buyers on request. The wider collection-led view sits at the Egon Guenther Collection page, where the holdings are organised by named provenance rather than by object type.

PricingWhat drives value on this page

Value on cabinet-scale pre-1925 European antiques is driven by a stack of factors that compound.

• Originality. Original patina, original fittings, original dies, original gilding, original cloth or felt bases, original candle liners, original mechanisms. Each original element present is worth more than a disclosed replacement.
• Completeness. Pairs that have stayed paired; sets that remain complete; presses that still carry their original dies; lamps that retain their original reflectors.
• Condition of finish. Untouched surfaces outperform cleaned or polished surfaces in this category.
• Evidence of age. Construction details that confirm period (seamed brass, cloth-covered bases, period metalwork inside fitted cases) carry more weight than aesthetic impression alone.
• Provenance. Documented prior ownership, named collection, family descent.
• Documentary interest. Objects that name a date, place or person (the Sons of England lodge embossing press) acquire interest beyond their form.
• Size and presence. Within a type, larger and more visually substantial examples usually command more.

CareCaring for and displaying these objects

• Brass (candlesticks, reflector lamp base, embossing press fittings). Do not use metal polish. A soft dry brush and occasional soft dry cloth. Do not wax.
• Japanned cast iron (embossing press). Dry dust only. Avoid any solvent cleaning; japanned finishes are fragile to solvents. A trace of light machine oil on the internal pivot is appropriate; no oil on visible surfaces.
• Wrought iron mechanism (reflector lamp). A trace of light machine oil on the slide periodically keeps it moving. Do not over-oil.
• Silver goblets with gilt interiors. Soft cloth only. Never put through a dishwasher. Do not use silver dip on a gilt interior - dip dissolves gilding. Hand-rinse with tepid water, dry immediately.
• Rosewood tray. A soft dry cloth; avoid water and oil. Keep away from direct sunlight and radiators to prevent splitting.
• Original cloth and baize bases. Leave undisturbed. Do not re-cover.

BuyingHow pieces are documented and sold

Every object on this page is catalogued with maker or workshop where identifiable, approximate period or exact date where supported by construction or documentary evidence, material and dimensions, condition, and provenance. Private viewings are available in the Netherlands by appointment, and worldwide shipping is arranged on request. Additional photographs, close-ups of marks or dies, and short video of moving parts are available before purchase.

FAQFrequently asked questions about rare fine antiques