Chinese Export Silver is without doubt the most mysterious silver category the world ever saw. Only now, over 70 years after it faded into obscurity, are we beginning to understand some of the many enigmas; it’s the stuff of movies!

As a silver category, Chinese Export Silver produced copious quantities of individual generic items; tea sets, bowls, goblets, beakers, tankards, dishes, trophy cups – they all exist in the thousands except, rather bizarrely, candlesticks! When every other Western silver category was almost over-populated by pairs of candlesticks, in the Chinese Export Silver cupboard the shelves are strangely almost bare.

What is all the more thought-provoking is that in the 17th and 18th centuries, China was producing superb candlesticks in the neo-classical styles which were obviously destined for the West; candlesticks with a difference though – they looked and felt like silver, but they were made of Paktong.

Paktong [“pai-tung” or “Baitong”] is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc that dates back to the 12th century. It resembles silver but unlike silver Paktong is slow to tarnish and wears well. Paktong was imported into England and most European countries from China and was used in the former during the 18th century and early 19th for making candlesticks, fenders, grates and other articles that generally would require a good deal of regular polishing; fenders and grates in particular.

This pair of Paktong candlesticks are by no means a cheap imitation of their silver cousins; Paktong was never intended as a poor relation. English makers, such as Matthew Boulton and Paul de Lamerie, saw the potential for making candlesticks and other goods from Paktong as the metal could be cast, took a high polish and was slow to tarnish. The renowned English Georgian architect Robert Adam designed Paktong fire grates for Syon House and a 1782 inventory of Osterley Park House records the fire grate, fender and fire irons as being of Paktong.

Paktong was used quite widely by master French silversmith Fraget, purveyor of silver to the Court of the Tsar, who went on to open retail outlets in St Petersburg, Warsaw, Odessa, Lvov, Tsibilis, Kiev and Vilnius where he became known as Fraget of Warsaw. Fraget had among his specialities the manufacture of high quality Sabbath candlesticks for the more affluent Jewish clientele and many of these candlesticks were of Paktong, since it was forbidden for Jews in the Pale of Settlement to own silver.

In the late 19th century, Paktong was adopted and slightly modified by middle European countries to become Alpacca, commonly known as “German Silver”, and it became a mass production metal that eventually even Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik [WMF] adopted.

This pair of candelabrum were made by Hsiang Yun Company of Hankow circa 1900. Nothing unusual in that, you might say. But this pair are actually silver-plated, Hsiang Yun being a factory that only made silver-plated items.

Silver-plating was virtually unknown in China, given the sheer availability of silver and the relative cheapness of manufacturing.

Hankow, standing north of the Yangtze and Han rivers, was a city with five foreign concession areas – Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Japan. Hankow had a riverfront Bund, similar to ShangHai.

The style of these candelabrum indicate they were probably made for either the French or Russian market. Each of these large candelabra has a fluted base and a conform stem and candle holders. The arms have stylised crane bird masks at their mounts to the stems. Although the crane bird was revered in China because it was believed they lived for centuries, they also have significance in French culture – in fact the English word “pedigree” is derived from the late Middle French phrase “pie de grue” [foot