A rare Charles II to William & Mary silver circular chamber candlestick

A rare Charles II to William & Mary silver circular chamber candlestick, maker's mark only W.W, 1680s, the flat handle pierced with a heart and engraved with a shield, the reverse pricked 'D.W. June 23rd 1693' and 'I.B. 1694', 22.5cm (9in) long, 155g (5 oz)

Provenance: From the estate of Christopher and Rosemary Warren

See Clayton, Michael The Collector's Dictionary of Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, New York & Cleveland 1971, p. 45, figs. 84 and 85 for comparable hand candlesticks from the 1680s.

Is this a love token? The heart would probably fit the story of this item very well. The simplicity of the arms means that we should expect these to be the arms of a family of the middle ages and the arms being contained in a lozenge leads us to expect that the display is intended for an unmarried lady. The mantling is consistent with circa 1680.

The blazon: (on a lozenge) gules, a chevron or. Being of the medieval period ensures some uncertainty and we find a number of families at some time assuming these arms: CHAMBERNOUN, COBHAM, DOWNER, DULFORD, TULFORD, GATHWITE, GOUNERY, HADLEY, KIRKLEY, KYME,VERRES, REDLLY, WHITLEY. The initials DW do suggest that we should look further at the WHITLEY family. The WHITLEY family are of Warwickshire, where their family name is derived from a place of the same name near Coventry: worthy of further research.

Condition Report:
Patched repairs to the reverse of the handle