A 350-YEAR-OLD silver salver that was commissioned by the Dean of Salisbury is to go under the hammer at auction.

The salver is being sold at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury on January 26 as part of an auction of Silver and Objects of Vertu.

It carries a pre-sale estimate of £3,000 to £4,000.

Dr Richard Baylie was twice Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and commissioned the salver for his grandson, Richard Dighton of Clifford Chambers in Gloucestershire.

Dighton’s daughter, Arabella, went on to marry Sir John Floyer – who is recorded in Boswell’s Life of Johnson as living to the age of 90 but also falsifying his baptism record to make himself appear younger than he was.

Silver specialist Rupert Slingsby said: "The salver was made in London in 1679, during the reign of Charles II."

“The Dighton family are well documented, with a 1902 publication by one of Richard’s descendants (Conway Dighton) detailing the various branches of the family. Dr Baylie himself, who gifted the salver to his grandson, was noted for his lavish hospitality when in Salisbury, although he spent most of his time in Oxford," he added.

In April 2021 an armorial silver cup made just four years after the salver sold for £22,500 at the auction house, while a tankard with a hinged cover from 1663 sold for £12,500.

 

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