A SILVER TWIN HANDLED CUP AND COVERJONES & SON, LONDON 1934With an acanthus leaf chased ball finial to acanthus leaf chased domed cover, twin leaf capped scroll handles, the half chased body with a girdle, engraved with a coat of arms, and on a circular moulded spreading foot43cm (17in) diameter4888g (157.14 oz)The armorial of the VILLIERS family, Earls of Clarendon. The assay date of 1934 would suggests that the item was commissioned by George Herbert Hyde VILLIERS (1877-1955), 6th Earl of Clarendon, who was the only son of Edward Hyde VILLIERS (1846-1914), 5th Earl of Clarendon, by Lady Caroline Elizabeth AGAR daughter of James AGAR, 3rd Earl of Normanton. In 1905 he married Adeline Verena Isabel COCKS (1886-1963), daughter of Herbert Haldane Somers COCKS. The sixth earl was a Conservative politician, who in 1930 had been created Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George and in 1931 was appointed Governor General of the Union of South Africa, a position he held until 1937. Notably his eldest son George VILLIERS, Lord Hyde died in a shooting accident in 1935

The blazon: argent, on a cross gules three escallops orSupporters: two eagles, wings endorsed sable, ducally crowned or, charged on the breast with a plain cross argent.Motto: FIDEI COTICULA CRUX