Britannia Silver Wine Bottle Coaster - 9706H

Britannia Silver Wine Bottle Coaster

• This deep sided Wine Bottle Coaster is perfect to hold a bottle of wine or champagne and has been hand made using traditional spinning techniques. The Coaster has then been hand planished to create a 'hammered' effect.
• The coaster has been made using Britannia silver, a mark with a fabulous history and sure to be a collectors item in years to come.
• The coaster carries a full English Hallmark. and is presented in a smart blue box.

This wine or champagne bottle coaster is one of the finest examples of it's kind available in the world today. This piece is fabulous quality, containing 3 times the weight  of silver used by other manufacturers. The coaster is hand made, it has been spun on a lathe from a silver circle and then hand polished.The Coaster has then been hand planished to create a 'hammered' effect on the metal which looks very striking. This look has been created using a 'ball' edged hammer which is struck on the metal to create this striking finish. The wood has also been manufactured by hand, and the silver is turned over the wood in the final process to trap the base. The coaster has been made in Britannia standard silver which is a higher grade of silver to the famous Sterling Silver. Britannia Silver is 95.8% parts silver compared with sterling silver which is 92.5% parts silver. Silver is mixed with other metals to give it greater strength which allows it to be adapted into so many different things. Britannia Silver therefore contains more silver and this makes it softer and easier to work with. Britannia Silver is a wonderful story dating back to 1697. At this time sterling silver was used to make coins and many silversmiths were melting the coins to manufacture their goods. This resulted in England running out of small change. The problem was solved by raising the hallmarking standard from sterling silver (92.5%) to Britannia silver (95.8%), and Britannia has remained ever since. A card detailing this story accompanies each piece.