The form of these candlesticks appears to have been popular during the last decade of the 17th century. A pair by Nelme, hallmarked 1697 is illustrated in Clayton, The Collector's Dictionary of the Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, 2nd.ed. 1985, fig. 82, while a pair bearing his pre-1697 maker's mark only was sold Sotheby's, London, April 11, 1968, lot 87. A pair with the mark of Benjamin Bathurst, circa 1695, is also known, sold in these Rooms June 22, 1981, lot 106. It seems likely that as Anthony Nelme Sr. is known to have been dead by February, 1723, the date of the granting of the administration of his goods to his widow Esther, the present candlesticks appear to have been stock in hand at the time of his death and assayed and sold by his son Francis.