About this lot

Description

A German metalwares silver six piece tea and coffee set, by Hessenberg & Co, marked with the Reichsmark and '833', of plain octagonal baluster form, the teapot with hinged cover topped with a black turned finial, black handle with Catherine wheel caps and engraved to the side with a monogram, the coffee pot to match, the milk jug with gilded interior, two handled sugar bowl with friction fitting cover and gilded interior, open slop bowl with gilded interior all en suite, the kettle with swing handle raised on a simple double X frame with removable spirit burner, octagonal base and four black bun shaped feet, gross weight 117.6ozt (6)
Provenance: The monogram on this service reads 'P.O.H.' for Paul and Olga Hirsch. During his lifetime, Anglo-German industrialist, collector and keen amateur musician, Paul Hirsch (1881-1951), amassed one of the world's finest private music libraries. Hirsch began to assemble his collection in 1896, and his library was originally housed at his home in Frankfurt am Main. By the 1920s, he was employing a librarian and opening his collection to the public on two afternoons a week. As a Jewish citizen fearing for his safety, he moved to Cambridge in 1936. Incredibly, he and his family managed to transport his library out of Germany in several train wagons. His collection found a temporary home at Cambridge University Library, where they became a working collection for local students. Hirsch died in 1951, and the British Library now hold his collection. It is one of their most significant single acquisitions, comprising around 18,000 items of printed music and music literature and 76 manuscripts dating from the late-12th to the mid-20th centuries. He shared his passion for collecting with his wife Olga, who bequeathed her collection of decorated papers to the British Library in 1968.

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