I would like to find out what my salver is worth. It was made by James Fray in 1828. Its in excellent condition with no dents. It has about a diameter of 17". This salver was given as a gift to the first Roman Catholic chaplain at the Curragh Camp in Ireland. I have had some difficulty with posting pictures on this forum. Please look at the website that is listed below. There are a few pictures of it posted on a Curragh Camp website.
Thanks, John C.
This is probably a difficult item to put a price on. Any opinions on the inscription adding or detracting value from it? Usually any monograms or inscriptions is not good from what I have found. Thanks in advance
I hope you don’t think that we have been ignoring you, but you are right in suggesting that this is a difficult item to value. My normal first port of call when answering a valuation question is to check out completed listings on eBay, but for such a piece as yours it is very difficult to find anything comparable. 17 inches is huge and I quess it must weigh about 3 pounds.
Inscriptions almost always detract from the value and in this case we are definitely looking at a reduction in value. It is purely personal but I find the engraving quite messy and untidy.
On the positive side Irish silver is much sought after so there should be a premium for that.
Anyway my search through eBay has revealed a smaller unengraved Irish salver of a very similar date. Factoring its price by the additional size and weight of yours gives a (very rough) UK estimate of £1000-£1300. That equates to $1600-$2100, but market conditions in the US may be different.
Thanks for the feedback. The salver weighs about 6 lbs. I am surprised the inscription would hurt the value that much. The fact that its named to an army chaplain makes this salver an item that military collectors would be interested in also. The market for militaria is very stong. A collector told me that items connected to chaplains are hard to find and desirable. I disagree with the inscription being messy and untidy. Maybe it was the picture. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
