For over 300 years, a tankard and a mug were the sole silver holdings of the Ashmolean Museum. Silver had not been perceived as that important a collecting area by patrons. Then in the 20th century came a showering of silver gifts. These works have been surveyed for the first time and presented in this important three-volume set 10 years in the planning. Included are the categories of drinking vessels, early mounted ceramics, two-handled cups, salvers, cruets, table wares, inkstands, boxes and bowls and more - esteemed late 17th-18th century silver works and medieval and Renaissance silver. The focus is on English silver but Continental holdings are also covered. Here are the sculptural Mildmay monteith, the Lomellini ewer and dish, the Capel basket, the Acton toilet service, Elizabethan mounted stoneware jugs, and 'bell salt' from the Cassel collection. Here, too, are stories and journal writings from such benefactors as the Farrer brothers, Albert Carter, John Francis Mallett, J.

Reginald Jones and Jim and Christine Chanceand from whom we gain insight on the process of collecting and the haunts of the cognoscenti.