Nathaniel Mills

Nathaniel Mills registered his mark in Birmingham in 1826 and worked until the mid-1850s, when the firm passed to his sons. His workshop specialised in the small, precise objects Birmingham did best: card cases, snuff boxes, vinaigrettes, nutmeg graters and pill boxes, made in thin sheet silver and decorated by stamping, engraving and engine turning.

What to look for

NM in a rectangle, with the Birmingham anchor, lion passant, date letter and duty mark, inside the lid or on the base. The “castle-top” pieces carry a view in relief on the lid: Windsor Castle, Warwick Castle, Abbotsford, York Minster, Newstead Abbey and a few dozen others. The rarer the view, the higher the price.

What moves the price

The view, the crispness of the relief, and whether the piece is a card case, a vinaigrette or a snuff box. Vinaigrettes should have their pierced gilt grille intact. Card cases with well-struck views of unusual buildings are the top of the market. Engine-turned pieces without a view are the entry point. Damage to the thin sheet, especially split hinges and dents to the relief, matters more here than on heavier silver.

Castle-tops, and which views matter

The castle-top is the field within a field. From the 1830s Birmingham makers stamped card cases, vinaigrettes and snuff boxes with a view of a named building in high relief, and Mills made more of them, and better, than anyone else.

Collectors rank the views by how few survive rather than by the building itself. Windsor Castle and Warwick Castle were made in numbers and are the common end. Abbotsford, Newstead Abbey, York Minster and Kenilworth sit above them. The scarce views (cathedral fronts, civic buildings, a handful made for a single event) are the ones that carry four figures, and a view nobody can immediately name is worth identifying before it is sold.

Relief is the other half of the price. These were struck from a die into thin sheet, so a crisp example shows undercut detail in the windows and the tracery. A worn one reads as a soft outline. The difference between the two on the same view is most of the value.

The other Nathaniel Mills

Mills registered in Birmingham in 1826 and the business continued under his sons after his death in 1843, using a mark of the same initials. Pieces struck into the 1850s are the same workshop and the same standard, so the distinction matters less here than it does with the Batemans, but it is the reason dates run past his own lifetime.

The mark is NM in a rectangle, struck with the Birmingham anchor, the lion passant, the date letter and, until 1890, the sovereign’s head duty mark. On a card case it sits inside the lid or along the edge of the frame; on a vinaigrette, inside the lid and again on the grille.

What comes up

• Card cases. The largest group and the top of the market. Castle-tops lead; engine-turned and engraved cases are the entry point.
• Vinaigrettes. Small hinged boxes with a pierced gilt grille over a sponge. The grille must be present, gilt and undamaged, and it should be marked too.
• Snuff boxes. Heavier than the card cases, so they survive better, with table snuff boxes at the larger end.
• Nutmeg graters, pill boxes and card holders. The small change of the workshop.

Condition on thin sheet

Everything here is made from sheet silver worked as thin as it will go, which changes what condition means.

Hinges are the first thing to fail and the most expensive to put right: a card case with a split hinge or a replaced one loses a large part of its value. Press the lid gently and watch whether it sits square.

Dents in a relief view cannot be raised without flattening the detail around them, so a dented castle-top stays dented. Gilding inside a vinaigrette wears through to white metal with use, and a regilded interior is acceptable where a replaced grille is not.

Erased monograms leave a dished patch that catches the light. Hold the piece flat and look along the surface rather than at it.

Where to check

The Birmingham Assay Office holds the registers where Mills entered his mark, and the Birmingham hallmarks page covers the anchor and the date letter cycles. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds catalogued castle-top cases, which is the fastest way to compare a view against a documented one.