Hardy Brothers have been in operation since 1853 and are an extremely respected retailer of exclusive products for the discerning client.
Founded by Englishman John Hardy, a jeweller, who had emigrated to Sydney from Nottinghamshire. The company was appointed jewellers by Royal Warrant to His Majesty King George V (1910 ~ 1936)
What does that mean?
For a company to be granted a Royal Warrant is a big "tick" and is often used in the marketing by that company as a Royal Warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family.
John Hardy began trading initially from Jamison Street, Sydney and then in 1855 set up a showroom in Hunter Street. Hardy Bros moved into sterling and silver plate products around 1894.
Since those times, Hardy Bros has remained trading (different owners now) and still have a reputation for luxury items, the best of the best with top class service - at a price though.
The following advertisement contains a lot of detail because I am pretty fastidious about these things and wish to share my appraisal of the condition in detail to those who may be interested in this unique item, it is extremely difficult to find quality old Hardy Bros silver plate items.
Hardy Bros Breakfast Tureen
Silver plated
Victorian ~ Edwardian era (late 1800's to 1910)
These were a popular utility item in the late 1800's amongst the 'well to do"
Free standing, comprising 4 pieces which are easily separated for cleaning
1: Hood
2: Food tray
3: Drip tray
4: Base
Stamped into the underneath of the base is:
HARDY BROS
SYDNEY
My reference to "The Egg" is the name we jokingly gave this serving dish
The tureen is for use with breakfast hot meats such as bacon and sausages, the food sits on the top dish and any liquids drip through the holes onto the lower drip tray.
All parts of this breakfast tureen (4) are silver plated, regular cleaning is recommended and never ever use this tureen for poached/fried eggs! The eggs will greatly increase the speed of silver discolouration.
Now I know that the patina is sacrilege to some but for our family, there is no way we would leave this tureen sitting in the display cabinet tarnished and besides, that makes looking for hallmarks etc extremely difficult! If you are a patina freak, just leave it unpolished for a couple of years and you will easily achieve that "unclean neglected" look.
Overall impression of this tureen is one of quality. It looks great, even though of course it has been used over the last 125+ years!
It is heavy and although I do not know for sure, I would suggest this is a pure copper base metal. At times while looking over this tureen I had to double-check it was not Sterling but I can tell you the plating is very high quality and thick. Any small dents or even a couple of light scratches and there is no sign of the base metal showing through.
Funny thing about this tureen, it is cold to touch and hold but when rubbed (polishing) it warms up very quickly, its quite a strange feeling and this is one of the only items we have that does this.
I will now describe (in detail) the four separate components of this tureen.
HOOD:
Very high lustre finish (so hard to take a photograph, it is like working with a mirror!)
The oval shaped hood has two side "pins" which sit into corresponding "troughs" on each side of the base. The allows the hood to be easily opened, just lift the lid away from you and it smoothly rotates backwards and then sits in the open position. It cannot be held in a partially open position, it is either closed or open.
A couple of small dents to the top, not serious dents but it has taken a wack sometime in the past 125 years!
The area around these two dents does NOT have silver plate damage, the silver surface remains unbroken but with a dip of course.
Oval dimensions: 240mm x 179mm
Pivot pins on each side protrude a further 15mm each side
Weight: 750g
Decoration consists of scroll work around the bottom rim and two prominent "shields" on each side of the upper most section. This shield does not appear to represent anything in particular, it is certainly not the royal shield Hardy Bros used in the late 19th Century in their marketing. The shield does have a large empty area in the centre which we believe could have been used for customised engraving - this tureen is NOT engraved.
Silver plate is in very good condition, just a few small light oxidisation spots inside the hood lid but there is a "mark" on the lid - it is like a liquid has been spilled onto the lid and it has discoloured the silver. For the most part, this discolouration is swamped by the high lustre of the hood surface but held in the correct light you can see this discolouration. Is takes the shape of a random wavy mark, about 60mm long and 5mm at the widest point and it has a yellowish look. Yes, this could be the base metal showing through but also we think it could have been some type of varnish or lacquer splash - we have not been game to try and remove it and no attempts have been made to "clean off" this mark. To the touch it feels the same as the silver plate surrounding, no bumps or dips just a different colour.
Hallmark/Marks: The ONLY obvious mark is stamped into the end of those pivot pins, a very small stamping of a T - very discreet!
FOOD TRAY:
This is the top tray which sits inside the lower, drip tray.
NO dents or physical damage
Oval shape 209mm x 148mm
Weight: 200g
Decorative cutouts in the base to allow liquids to flow into the drip tray underneath
High lustre finish
Silver plate is in very good condition, a couple of very light oxidisation spots (black spots) and one more prominent oxdisation spot which I could not remove.
Hallmark/Marks: The ONLY obvious mark is stamped into one end, topside right where the pivot hole is. The very small stamping is simply a T
DRIP TRAY:
This is the lower tray upon which the food tray sits.
NO dents or physical damage
Oval shape 215mm x 155mm
Weight: 300g
Plain undecorated all round
High lustre finish
Silver plate is in very good condition, although there are obvious spots from useage on the inside base (where hot greases/fat have been sitting) and I have tried cleaning these with some improvement but not removal (Bi Carb only) A more prominent oxdisation spot is on the underneath (and what looks like very light plating bubble around the mark, but not sure) This tray has the toughest job of all and it has stood the test of time pretty well in my opinion.
Hallmark/Marks: The ONLY obvious mark is stamped into one end, topside right on the rim edge, the same mark as the upper food tray i.e a very small stamping of a T
BASE:
This is main support for the breakfast tureen.
NO substantial dents but there is a very small dent in the bowl area, no damage to the silver plate.
Legs straight, not bent
Cute little feet at the ends of each leg
Base dimensions (maximum's) 310mm x 190mm
Stands 95mm from the dining table to the centre rim, actual clearance from the table is 30mm (due to the bowl extending underneath the tureen.
Weight: 850g
Decorative work consists only of simple lines, fan shapes and of course the feet at the base of the legs.
High lustre finish
Silver plate is in very good condition, although there are obvious spots from useage on the inside bowl (where hot greases/fat have dripped from the drip tray above) and I have tried cleaning these with some improvement but not full removal (Bi Carb only)
Hallmark/Marks: It took a bit of hunting around but I have found these maker's marks on the base (all are stamped)
That recurring very small stamp of a T is present inside both channels for the hood pivot.
Underneath, on the wide rim, centrally located is a stamping. It looks like a hex or star shape with a raised centre. Perhaps it is a symbol, no idea, but it has been stamped intentionally. I cannot see any base metal where this stamp has been made (it is quite a deep stamp)
The most obvious of all stamping is the name
HARDY BROS
SYDNEY
then in extremely small characters (but stamped) is
1.
This concludes my piece by piece description, in summary ...
Hardy Bros (Sydney) Breakfast Tureen
Silver Plate
Visually impressive
Looks and feels high quality (total weight is approximately 2.2Kg)
Late 19th Century ~ Early 20th Century
Highly collectable, unique Hardy Bros item and also a piece with links to early Australia.
To reduce the amount of time needed to polish up the silver plate, each individual piece is now sealed in plastic to keep out air and reduce oxidisation.
If being shipped, it will be sent the same way - it is safer too!
