A Silver Pride Pattern Tea and Coffee Service

A Silver Pride Pattern Tea and Coffee Service.

An Elizabeth II modernist sterling silver four-piece tea and coffee service, Sheffield 1962/68/69 mark of Elkington, designed by David Mellor.

Pride pattern, of plain ogee form, comprising a teapot, coffee pot, milk jug and twin handled sugar bowl. The teapot and coffee pot with removable lid with ebonised knop finial, and ebonised handles. Each fully marked.

The Pride tea service was designed by David Mellor in 1958. In 1959 it won a Council of Industrial Design award for both aesthetic and practical reasons. Manufactured by Walker & Hall of Sheffield, who employed Mellor as a design consultant from 1954. DAVID MELLOR CBE RDI (1930-present) David Mellor is one of the best-known 20th century British designers and was a key figure in the evolution of post-war British design.

He was born in Sheffield in 1930 and, from the age of twelve, attended the Junior Art Department Sheffield College of Art. In 1945, he progressed to the Sheffield College of Art where he became interested in contemporary design. After National Service Mellor, went to the Royal College of Art under Professor Robert Goodden, winning a scholarship to study at the British School in Rome. After graduating in 1954, Mellor returned to Sheffield and set up a workshop and studio for special commissions in silver and was at the centre of a resurgence of the interest in contemporary silversmithing.

In 1962, he became the youngest ever Royal Designer for Industry. Mellor is recognised for the great diversity of his design work from cutlery, hence his nickname the 'cutlery king,' to designing Britain's first modern street furniture. Driven by a passion for good design for the public he made a considerable impact on the British street landscape, with designs for bus shelters, the square post box, street lighting, seating, and litter bins.

However, we will be most familiar with his traffic lights. In 1965, he was commissioned by the Ministry of Transport to redesign the national traffic light system, Mellor's traffic lights are still in use today almost unaltered since their introduction 40 years ago. A museum in Hathersage in Derbyshire shows the full historic collection of his work.

Sold As: Set of 4.
Materials and Techniques: Silver.
Period: 1960-1969.
Date of Manufacture: 1965.
Condition: Good, Wear consistent with age and use.

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance