Antique Menu Card Clips
These antique menu card clips are small silver table accessories designed to hold dinner menus and place cards upright.
Antique Menu Card Clips
When you search for antique menu card clips, you find small table accessories designed to hold dinner menus and place cards upright during formal meals. The examples on this page span several periods, from Victorian and Edwardian pieces up through the 1930s and mid-century.
You are most likely to meet sterling silver versions dating from the Edwardian era, often taking the form of animals, birds, or figurative subjects like maidens and literary characters. These items function as tableware accessories and frequently appear in matched pairs or boxed sets.
The assortment includes specific motifs such as owls, swans, foxes, monkeys, and characters from Alice in Wonderland alongside military and patriotic themes. Makers and retailers stamp many of these pieces with hallmarks indicating origins in London, Birmingham, and Chester.
Materials and construction
Silversmiths constructed these table accessories primarily using sterling silver, frequently employing casting techniques to create detailed figurative subjects such as animals, birds, and human figures. Enamel embellishments add colour to specific flags and decorative panels.
Additional materials visible in the construction include velvet, silk, leather, glass, and feathers, which occasionally form part of fitted presentation cases or backing elements. Hallmarks stamped into the silver provide reliable dates and assay office locations.
Antique Menu Card Clips Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical asking prices for menu card clips among the pieces listed under this phrase on Sellingantiques today, from the lower quarter to the upper quarter. They describe what is for sale here now, not the wider market.
Monkeys playing drums and Alice in Wonderland characters stand ready to supervise your dinner party.
Assessing quality and execution
The presence of clear hallmarks, original fitted boxes, and works by known makers elevates the standing of individual pieces. Matching pairs and complete sets command greater interest than single examples.
Sampson Mordan·Levi and Salaman·A. Wilcox·Grey and Co·Asprey
The Antique Menu Card Clips Glossary
- Sterling silver
- A silver alloy containing 92.5 percent pure silver and 7.5 percent other metals, usually copper. This standard composition is the primary material for the majority of these pieces.
- Hallmark
- A mark or series of marks stamped on articles of precious metal to certify their standard of purity, place of origin, and year of manufacture. Assay offices in cities such as London, Birmingham, and Chester applied these stamps.
- Place card holder
- A miniature table accessory that keeps a guest's name card upright on the dining table. These items share the same mechanical clip designs as menu holders.
- Enamel
- A glassy substance fused to the surface of metal through firing for decoration. This technique appears on specific flag and decorative items in the collection.
Antique Menu Card Clips: Frequently Asked Questions
What are antique menu card clips used for?
These table accessories held menus and name cards upright on dining tables during formal meals. Dinner hosts utilised them to guide guests to their designated seats and present the evening's courses.
Today, collectors acquire them as decorative silver table ornaments or utilise them for their original purpose during dinner parties.
How do I date these silver menu holders?
Dating relies primarily on the hallmarks stamped directly onto the silver surface by assay offices. These marks indicate the exact year of manufacture and the city where the piece was tested.
Stylistic indicators, such as Edwardian figurative designs or Art Nouveau motifs, also help place the item within a specific period.
Are these pieces found in sets?
Silversmiths produced many of these accessories in matched pairs or larger sets for formal dining tables. Complete sets often survive inside their original fitted presentation boxes.
Individual pieces also appear frequently, allowing collectors to assemble groups over time.
What themes appear on these items?
Silversmiths incorporated a wide variety of subjects into the designs, ranging from natural animals like owls and swans to literary figures. Military badges and patriotic flags also decorate specific examples from the early twentieth century.
Figurative subjects include maidens, monkeys, and characters from Alice in Wonderland.