About this lot

Description

A Victorian silver plated 'Naperian' coffee maker, by William Padley & Son, Sheffield, circa 1850, number 697, comprising the globe with detachable top spout and ivory enhanced spigot, raised on four dragon and foliate capped feet above a removable spirit burner, and the open vessel into which the spout, with filter end, drops, resting on an extension to the main stand, both vessels and the stand decorated with bright cut engraved foliate swags, bows, tassels and repeated decorative borders, presented alongside the book 'Coffeepots and Coffee Makers', which features a similar example (2)
This vacuum siphon coffee brewer was the brainchild of Scottish naval engineer and inventor, James Napier and was developed in the 1840s. Ground coffee and boiling water were combined in the open topped vessel, and a small amount of water was placed in the globe. The water in the globe was heated by a spirit burner below turning the water to steam which was forced through the siphon tube to agitate the coffee and water mixture in the vessel. When all the water in the globe had converted to steam and the flame was extinguished, a vacuum formed which siphoned the brewed coffee though a filter and back into the globe, from which it was served. William Padley & Son were silversmiths in Sheffield and specialised in producing Napier coffee machines which were popular through to the beginning of the twentieth century.

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