A rare set of six gold dognose rattail teaspoons and six two-pronged forks , maker's mark CR beneath a crown, struck thrice on each, circa 1700

the terminals engraved 'DHarbin', later fitted case

The rarity of surviving early gold spoons and forks is discussed by Norman Gask, 'A Gold Charles II Pocket Cutlery Set and Three Gold Trifid Spoons,' Apollo, August 1949, p. 34.

tiny nicks commensurate with age
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While the identity of 'D Harbin', the name engraved on the terminals of these spoons and forks remains obscure, the place of their manufacture is also open to conjecture. When they appeared as part of Montague, 1^st Lord Swaythling's collection at Christie's on 6 May 1924 (lot 52), they were described as 'Dutch, early 18^th Century.' The fact that the maker's mark was, and remains, unidentified adds further to the mystery. It has to be said, however, that the pattern is typically English of about 1700.

The Harbin family of Newton Surmaville, near Yeovil, Somerset (a group of whose silver was sold at Sotheby's, London, 18 December 2007, lots 173-180), were certainly wealthy enough to own gold objects of this kind. Of course, a number of other Harbins were living at the period in question including Thomas and Agatha Harbin whose daughter Dorothy was christened at St. Martin in the Fields, London, on 1 January 1687, and John Harbin whose daughter, also Dorothy, was christened at St. Philip, Barbados, on 10 November 1730. Another possible candidate is Jane D'Harbin, the widow of Cesar Autard De Bragard, a major in the Prussian army who died at Wesel, Westphalia, in 1725. Shortly afterwards Mrs D'Harbin, a Huguenot refugee, was in England where she died, described as 'Jane D'Harbin or D'Herbin alias D'Autard de Bragard, Widow of Wesel.' Her will, translated from the French and proved in London on 8 January 1726, mentions two schedules (now apparently lost) one of which 'begins with a silver Porringer and ends with a large Tureen' and the other which 'begins with a silver Candlestick called Martinet and ends with a three footed [?]'. She also bequeaths 'a little Trunk of Tortoise Shell garnished with silver' (National Archives, PROB 11/607, 1-47).