A Choice Selection: Theo Fennell's Top Picks

Launch Slideshow

With nine lots of Theo Fennell’s silverware featuring in Sotheby’s 'A Toast To Sport' auction, we asked Theo himself to reflect on his inspirations and processes

A Choice Selection: Theo Fennell's Top Picks

  • A Cased Pair of Silver Baseball Menu Holders
    "These were really just for fun, designed of course for the baseball player or the baseball fan. The lovely thing is you can enamel your team colours or whatever onto them. We’re quite happy for someone to come in and ask to have enamelling done, if they’ve bought something like this."
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  • A Cased Silver Horse Racing Bowl
    "It really was done for that for the old-fashioned idea of giving a present that actually means something. We have over 100 of these finial designs, so if someone plays polo, likes yachting, likes bowls, likes Labradors… Whatever it is, there’s something that will make a very personal, customised gift."
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  • A Cased Set of Ten Silver Gamebird Stirrup Cups
    "Stirrup cups are obviously a hunting thing – in the old days, before you went fox hunting, when you were in the stirrup, you were handed a glass that couldn’t stand up until it was empty. Of course now they’re used for quite grand picnics and so on, rather than hunting."
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  • A Cased Silver Horse Head Bowl
    "This is obviously something racing and horse people would love, but these horse heads are real art – they’re beautifully sculpted. All three horse heads are modelled on a specific horse, and that’s why they are so convincing, so well modelled. I think if you’re ever [modelling] animal, human or whatever, it has to be convincing, otherwise it just looks bad. I’m always amazed when you see a statue that’s poorly modelled, and you just think: it’s not alive."
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  • Silver Baseball Helmet and American Football Helmet Bottle Stoppers
    "Again, this would be for an American football fan, or a baseball fan. They’re the ideal presents for a man who has everything – and probably has a football or baseball team as well! We will enamel or engrave them, so you can get them customised and made to order. It might be nice to have it deeply engraved and then parcel-gilt, for example."
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  • A Cased Set of Six Silver Sporting Menu Holders
    "Normally these are used as nameplace holders, rather than menu holders – very few people have menus at dinner, of course. But they’re lovely collectibles – you can either collect one or as many as you want. We’ve done probably 250 different ones over the years – from an aardvark to a zebra!"
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