Firebacks

Description: Canted rectangular shape; double fillet edging (top and sides); top centre, date; initials, SP, repeated in top corners; a fleur-de-lys below each pair of initials and the date; between the initials and the date, a flower head, with two more flower heads arranged vertically on each side below the initials.

Notes: The style of the fleurs-de-lys, and the distinctive form of the number '8', indicate that this fireback is one of a small series. Bishop & Miller auction, Stowmarket, Suffolk, 25 May 2022, lot 292 & 23 Feb 2023 lot 250, and Auctionet 4 Aug 2023, lot 2960707.

Inscription: SP 1689 SP

Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and canting only); centre top, date (written as 1018); below to left and right, initials.

Notes: It has been suggested that the initials IR relate to King James I but the lack of any other royal decoration makes this unlikely.

Inscription: 1618 / IR IR

Description: Rectangular shape with twisted rope edging (top and sides); date split between top corners.

Notes: The central button on the number 1 is consistent with a date in the first half of the seventeenth century. Hall's auction, Shrewsbury, 28 Oct 2015, lot 127 (£190).

Inscription: 16 37

Description: Canted rectangle; double fillet edging (top and sides); top centre, date between two flower heads; initials in triad, repeated on each side, with two fleurs-de-lys between; flower head below each initial group; small stamp of the figure of a stag below the date.

Notes: The initials are likely to be those of a husband (P) and wife (M) whose surname begins N. Illustration from Lenygon, p. 245.

Inscription: 1689 / PNM PNM [both triads]

Description: Canted rectangle; double fillet edging (top and sides); top centre, date; initials in triad, repeated on each side, with a fleur-de-lys between; three fleurs-de-lys evenly spaced below initial groups.

Notes: The initials are likely to be those of a husband (E) and wife (I/J) whose surname begins R.

Inscription: 1688 / ERI ERI [both triads]