10 AM - 4 PM, Tuesday - Friday, April - October. Donations / Membership

Objects | Tain Silver

Collection of Tain Burgh Silver

Back to Object Collections

Showing 12 photos.

Silver Hanovarian Tablespoon marked HR and engraved with DREAD GOD the motto of the Munro Clan. One of the things that make Tain Silver very collectable is that the items are never hallmarked as Silver, so if you keep your eyes peeled you may find a bargain. The museum, with help, bought this spoon for hundreds of pounds in 2012 from a lucky purchaser who had bought it at a car-boot sale in Wales for 10p!Other marks; initial N on the terminal. Marked HR, not conjoined, TAIN, L and sickle-shaped mark.

Hugh Ross, Hanovarian Tablespoon. 1750-1780

Two silver forks marked

Silver forks by Richard Maxwell Wilkie

A pair of sugar tongs by William Innes of Tain, two marks; W.I. Tain struck to either arm. Grippers are shell patterned. Purchased from Bonhams. Dating from between 1810 and 1830.

Pair of sugar tongs by William Innes of Tain

This grater was made by the first Hugh Ross who lived from around 1685 to 1731. The grater is heart-shaped with hinged lids, top and bottom, and is fitted with a grater made of steel. The nutmeg was designed to be carried in a gentleman’s pocket. When visiting other gentlemen on business a glass of wine would be served. The wine might be bitter and a little freshly grated nutmeg in the wine smoothed away the bitter taste. The owner was showing off that he could afford a silver nutmeg grater and indeed that he could afford nutmeg as it was very expensive.

Nutmeg Grater made by Hugh Ross

A large part of our Tain Silver Collection consists of flatware, mainly a wide variety of spoons. This beautiful example is a masking or mashing spoon, which was used to stir tea in the pot to get the most flavour from it at a time when tea was very expensive.

Silver Masking Spoon by Hugh Ross.

An extremely rare Scottish Provincial Silver Soup Ladle of plain Old English pattern with partial hook end and fluted shell bowl. The handle is engraved with script initials GM over MR. Stamped HR (conjoined), St Duthac.

Silver Ladle by Hugh Ross

Two silver punch or toddy ladles with fluted bowl and turned wooden handles by Hugh Ross c 1770 -80 marked HR conjoined, H. stamped with makers mark script

Silver Ladles by Hugh Ross

The pepper pot has a cylindrical body with a ribbed foot and handle, and a domed pull-off lid with a ribbed rim. The top is pierced with a pattern of dots, commas and slashes. Pots of this type are described as

Hugh Ross: Pepper Pot

This is a rare example of Alexander Stewart's work in gold, a man's ring with a topaz-coloured stone in an octagonal setting. The underside of the setting is engraved with the initials GMK over AM, and the maker's mark of AS is stamped on the outside of the band.Alexander Stewart was a well-established silversmith in Inverness who moved to Tain in 1812, where there had been no silversmith since the death of Hugh Ross III in 1786.

Gold RIng by Alexander Stewart

(1 comments)

Miniature silver thistle cup made by Hugh Ross I (c.1680-1732), probably between about 1700 and 1720. This style of cup, inspired by the shape of a thistle head, was particular to Scotland at this period. The exceptionally rare surviving group of cups made in Tain are all of a diminutive size – this one is only 4.7cm tall. It is of heavy gauge with applied fluted lobes, a ribbed girdle and a ribbed S-shaped handle. The initials AS and MF are engraved above the girdle. The maker's mark of HR conjoined is stamped on the base. Another thistle cup by Hugh Ross is in the McCord Museum, Montreal. It was taken out by James Thompson, who left Tain in 1757 with the Fraser Highlanders. The cup was said to have belonged to his grandmother.

Hugh Ross: Thistle Cup

Tain Silver Quaich made by Hugh Ross II, circa 1740. The quaich is engraved with lines to represent eight staves. The lugs have hatched borders with engraved initials GW and SD.

Hugh Ross: Silver Quaich

This Tain silver snuff box, made by Hugh Ross in the mid 18th century, was sold at auction in Guernsey in September 2006 to a private purchaser. The same box was exhibited in the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938 and at that time belonged to Major H.N. Robertson.

Hugh Ross snuff box