A very rare early George III Ice Spade of small size made in London

This rare Silver Gilt Spade is modelled in a smaller size in the Old English Pattern with shoulders. The top is engraved with a contemporary Crest and the reverse displays a bottom set of marks. The Crest is that as used by Francis William Caulfield (1775-1863), 2nd Earl of Charlemont. He was the eldest son of the 1st Earl of Charlemont and inherited the family estates and titles in 1799. Francis William was educated at Trinity College Dublin and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1794. He represented the seat of Armagh in the Irish Parliament from 1797 to 1799 (when he entered the House of Lords). After the dissolution of the Irish Parliament in 1801 the Earl lost his seat in the House of Lords but from 1806 to 1863 was one of the Representative Irish Peers in the Westminster Parliament. In the 1830s he received further honours- he was made an extra Knight of the Order of St. Patrick in 1831 (and a full Knight in 1833) and made Baron Charlemont in the United Kingdom peerage (giving him and his successors a permanent seat in the Westminster House of Lords). He was also Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone in 1831 and Custos Rutulorum of the county from 1841. The 2nd Earl of Charlemont married Anne, youngest daughter and co-heir of William Bermingham of Ross Hill, co. Galway, in 1801. The Countess served as a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1854. The Earl died in 1863 (aged 89) and the Countess in 1876 (aged 96). They were succeeded by the 2nd Earl's cousin James Molyneux Caulfield who became the third Earl in 1863. The Earls of Charlemont had their Dublin estate at Merino and one part of it still stands- the neoclassical Casino (or small house) finished by Francis William's father in 1775 (the year the future 2nd Earl was born). Length: 7.25 inches, 18.13 cm. Width of the bowl: 1.85 inches, 4.63 cm.

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