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Silver from the Collection of Jimmy Weldon
26 AN IRISH TWO HANDLED SNAP ACTION WAX JACK, LATE 18TH CENTURY,apparently unmarked, on square base, bearing the Fitzgerald crest of the Duke
of Leinster. 12cm high, the base 7.5 x 7.5cm
€ 800 - 1,000
In former centuries, letters and documents were secured with sealing wax, a
compound of shellac and resin with turpentine and colouring pigments.This
was applied by melting it with the flame of a taperstick or wax jack. (Delamer
& O’Brien, 2005 p186)
This example bears the crest of the Second Duke of Leinster,William Robert
FitzGerald.The FitzGerald family were the premier aristocratic family in Ireland
in the Georgian period.They re-built Carton House Maynooth, Kilkea Castle
and, of course, Kildare (Leinster) House, now the seat of the Irish government.
The Second Duke whilst patriotic and wary of the influence of the “Castle”
administration was an ineffective politician and was unable to resist the govern-
ment machinations and bribery that secured the union. In contrast, his youngest
brother was Lord Edward FitzGerald, the patriot who died of wounds received
while resisting arrest on a charge of treason during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.