Antique silver windmill cups, with sails to spin if you get bored.

Bell-shaped silver windmill cup, the base engraved with three scrolling foliate cartouches, two enclosing sailboats, and the third with Venus holding a ribbon, all above a Dutch rhyme that reads ” Wanneer ‘t Fortuin U Dient Sal U geen Vriend Onbreeken, Maaralst Fortuin Ukeerdt Dan Is U Vriend Geweeken“. The detachable upper section has two parts. The first part being drum-shaped and engraved with slated reeding. The second being in the form of a windmill with a similar engraving, clock dial, and revolving sails, fitted with a pipe and ladder mounted with two millers carrying sacks on their heads while a third emerges from a doorway. 1724-1732. Made in Zierikzee in the Netherlands. Maker not known. The rim of the cup and the pipe both being engraved “From the sale of H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex’s effects, 1843.” Unknown maker’s mark. Image © 2021 Sotheby’s. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/the-marianne-l-dreesmann-van-der-spek-collection/a-dutch-silver-windmill-cup-unknown-makers-mark
Silver windmill cup, the cup engraved with flowers and foliage above flower bandwork, the lower rim of the cup with the engraved letters “L.B.H.B.” and the stem with thee cast fish supporting the realistically-shaped windmill with. on the back, a blowpipe, stairs and a clock whereby the hands are moving when the sails are in motion. You blow into the blowpipe to make the sails spin around. 1611. Made in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Maker’s marks: Maker’s mark beaker in shield. Image © Christie’s 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1866555
Silver windmill cup, the bowl engraved with foliage strapwork and four applied grotesque masks with drop rings and the stem cast as a windmill. 1639. Made in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Marked near the rim with an unidentified indistinct maker’s mark. Image © Christie’s 2021. Fair use license. via https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5993495

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