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Lot Essay
The Tarporley Hunt Club is the oldest surving hunt club in England, which has been in continuous existence since its foundation. The first dinner was held on the 14 November 1762 at the Swan Hotel, Tarporley. The very full and facinating history of the club is recorded in G. Fergusson's The Green Collars, The Tarporley Hunt Club and Cheshire Hunting History, published in 1993. He notes that six dozen forks were purchased with a subscription of £3 3s paid by each member.
The Old English pattern is a development of the earlier Hanoverian pattern, having, among other changes, four-pronged forks instead of three. Any engraving is normally on the reverse of the fork stem as in the present set because it was the practice at the time to lay the table with the tine pointing 'into' the table. Hence the crest or device, is engraved on the opposite side to spoons, which were set open bowl uppermost and were engraved on the front.
The Old English pattern is a development of the earlier Hanoverian pattern, having, among other changes, four-pronged forks instead of three. Any engraving is normally on the reverse of the fork stem as in the present set because it was the practice at the time to lay the table with the tine pointing 'into' the table. Hence the crest or device, is engraved on the opposite side to spoons, which were set open bowl uppermost and were engraved on the front.