Sheffield Dessert Set

I found this yesterday at a yard sale.  It is a Sheffield silver-plate dessert set, with mother-of-pearl handles, 24 pieces.  And it's beautiful!  Have a look!

Here you can see the knives and forks in the top tray.  Note the beautiful engraving on the knives and the forks.

A view of the entire set.  Twelve two-piece place settings.

This is the tag that was included giving a description of this set.  Note the engraving on the forks.

The back of the tag says "From Estate of Earl of Cathcart."

Am sorry to say that the lid of the wood box is cracked clear across the top and the brass medallion needs to be glued back on -- which I will do.

My research on the Earl produced quite a few of them beginning in the early 1800's.  Check it out on Wikipedia here.  By the date on the included tag, my guess is that these may have belonged to Alan Frederick Cathcart, 3rd Earl Cathcart, (1828–1905), Peerage page here (scroll to the bottom).  I also have to wonder just who wrote the tag that was included and is it accurate.  Doesn't matter, really.  This is a beautiful set and I bought it because the price was very right and the lady didn't want to polish the silver.  I did and it turned out stunning.  Am going to sell this set.  If you know of anyone who would like to purchase it, please let me know on my Facebook page.  It will be in my locked china cabinet in my booth at Merchant Square for the time being.