Trustees

Rupert Hambro was the Chairman of Hambros Bank until 1986 when he left to set up J O Hambro, a mergers and acquisitions and investment management business. He has a private equity business and an advisory business, Hambro Perks, in partnership with Dominic Perks. This business helps start up using SEIS and EIS structures in businesses from travel, gin & vodka, laundry and dry cleaning, estate agents and automobiles, and other disruptive technology businesses. Rupert is the Chairman of a number of companies and he was previously a Director of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, The Daily Telegraph Group and Sedgwick PLC. He is also the Chairman of the Zoological Society of London’s Development and Strategy Board; the Chairman of Trustees of The Silver Trust; a Member of the Council of the Royal College of Art; a Trustee of the Wallace Collection; and the President of the British Association of Adoption and Fostering.

Timothy Schroder is an acknowledged authority on English and European silver. He was born in 1953 and educated at St Edward’s School and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1976 he joined the Silver Department at Christie’s and moved in 1984 to California as Curator of Decorative Arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Returning to London five years later, he worked as an antique dealer until 1996, when he was appointed Curator of the Gilbert Collection at Somerset House. On completion of the Gilbert project he became a consultant curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is now a freelance lecturer, curator and advisor.He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and in 2013 was awarded a D Litt by the University of Oxford. Other roles include chairman of the Silver Society (2011-14), a trustee of the Wallace Collection and chairman of the Prostate Cancer Research Centre. He was recently Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company. His many publications include The National Trust Book of English Domestic Silver (London, 1988), The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver (Los Angeles, 1988) and British and Continental Gold and Silver in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 2009).

Adrian Sassoon is a leading dealer and world authority in French 18th century Sèvres Porcelain, and has published and lectured on this subject. He also deals in contemporary British Silver, Studio Ceramics, Glass and Jewellery and in addition works as an Art Advisor sourcing works of art for both private clients and museums. Adrian Sassoon has worked in the art world for over twenty years and started out as Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts at the J Paul Getty Museum in Malibu 1980-1984. Here he wrote their catalogue of Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain. Adrian is trustee of the UK’s Friends of the Hermitage and is also on the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Marlay Group.

Helen Lederer is a civil servant working at No. 10 where the majority of the collection is based. Helen has been a Trustee of the Silver Trust since 2013.

Jeffrey Lassaline first worked with the Silver Trust 2002, initially helping to organise an exhibition that year. He has acted as Curator of the Silver Trust collection and Secretary to the Trustees since 2013.Before joining the Silver Trust Jeffrey worked for many years with the fine art auctioneers Christie’s, acting most recently as Director and Head of Sale in the Silver department. He continues to work with them as Consultant Senior Specialist. During his time at Christie’s he was responsible for, or involved in, the sale of many important pieces and collection of silver. Before moving to London Jeffrey worked in the conservation department of the Royal Ontario Museum and later an auctioneer in Toronto, where Jeffrey was also a founder member of the Silver Society of Canada.