Deja Vu Silver 3-Piece Tea Service - Birmingham 1915

This George V-period sterling silver tea service was assayed in Birmingham in 1915 and made by Joseph Gloster Ltd, a Birmingham silversmith founded in 1880 at the Lion Silver Works on Hockley Hill, a firm highly regarded for its sterling silver and silver-plated wares from the Victorian era through to the mid-20th century. The set comprises a teapot, a double-handled sugar bowl and a matching creamer, retailed under the name of Coombes Company, an important dealer in fine silver, curios and gemstones based at 12 Phayre Street in colonial Rangoon.

Each piece features ribbed, oval bodies raised on bun feet, a restrained yet elegant Edwardian-era silhouette that favours clean, gadrooned lines over heavier Victorian ornamentation. The teapot is fitted with a wood finial and composition handle, materials commonly used on silver teapots of this period to insulate the hand from heat during pouring.

Pieces bearing both Birmingham hallmarks and a Rangoon retailer's name reflect the trade networks of British colonial Burma, where firms like Coombes Company imported high-quality English silver to serve the expatriate and mercantile communities during a peak period for the region's silver trade between roughly 1875 and 1945.

Please note that there is some wear to the finial, consistent with a piece that has seen genuine period use over its more than a century of history.