You can tell this is an item that was used as intended because of the wear on the handle – the carved lines aren’t nearly as deep or distinct as they would have been originally. As such, you can also imagine that the family that this coffeepot belonged to was not necessarily of the highest reaches of the aristocracy, or even the middle ranks of the peerage, based on the design work. This probably belonged to a lower ranking modest country estate, such as featured prominently in the writings of Bronte and Austen, or even in the household of a mistress or a bastard child that was not shunned.