A Silver Mug by Joseph Forrester


Bill Lowe

Australiana, Vol 46 no 2, May 2024

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Silver mug of baluster shape, h 10 w 7 cm, weight 145.8 g, with embossed decoration of rose, shamrock, thistle and acanthus leaves, with shaped cartouche engraved with initials ‘RS’. Bearing pseudo-hallmarks JF, lion passant facing right, head and ‘18’. Attributed to Joseph Forrester (1805–1863), Hobart c 1842–1846. Private collection

Bill Lowe argues that a silver mug engraved with initials, probably as a christening present, and bearing pseudo-hallmarks and maker’s initials ‘JF’, was most probably made in Hobart by Scottish-born convict silversmith Joseph Forrester, when he was in business there on his own account in the early 1840s. While many pieces have been attributed to Forrester (1805–1863), this would be the first, and so far the only, piece of silver attributed to Forrester which also bears his initials as maker.

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