Sterling Silver Clothes Brush | Engine-Turned Back & Round Cartouche | Birmingham 1919

Sterling Silver Clothes Brush | Engine-Turned Back & Round Cartouche | Birmingham 1919

A silver-backed clothes brush with fine engine-turned lines, a scrolling border and a vacant round cartouche.

The silver back of this George V clothes brush is engine-turned with bands of fine parallel lines running its full length, framed by an embossed scroll border along the sides and at each end. At the centre is a plain round cartouche, left unengraved. The silver is mounted on a wooden base set with pale natural bristles, which are full and firm.

The back is hallmarked in Birmingham for 1919, with the anchor of the Birmingham Assay Office, the lion passant for sterling silver and the date letter “u”. The maker’s mark is rubbed and cannot be read. The side is also stamped “Rd 658649”, a British registered design number from 1916. It records when the design was registered, three years before this brush was made.

It is in very good condition, with light wear to the silver and a few minor dings.

Key Details

• Material: sterling silver back on a wooden base
• Hallmarks: Birmingham anchor, lion passant, date letter “u” for 1919; maker’s mark rubbed
• Registered design: Rd 658649 (design registered 1916)
• Decoration: engine-turned bands, embossed scroll border, vacant round cartouche
• Bristles: natural; full and firm
• Length: 15.3 cm
• Width: 3.8 cm
• Height: 3.7 cm
• Weight: 67 g (including wood and bristles)
• Condition: very good; light wear, a few minor dings

Collector Appeal

Silver-backed brushes were a standard part of a dressing-table set after the First World War. This one pairs plain engine-turning with a decorative scroll border, and its cartouche has never been engraved, ready for a new owner’s initials. The registered design number gives it a traceable history beyond the hallmarks.

Made in 1919 to keep a good coat looking its best.