Hallmarked for Birmingham 1848, it is worked with bands of engraving and three champlevé enamel roundels of a rose, a fleur de lys and the monogram EP.
The engraved inscription reads Eleanor Frances Baptised and the date April 3, 1848, in Roman numerals.
It came for sale at Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium) on December 6-7 by descent from the family of John Gibson, Dean of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1842-57.
Gibson was one of the guiding forces of the Gothic Revival in Cambridge in the 1840s and his entry in the Hardman order books (now in the Birmingham Library) includes two private commissions, one of which is this beaker priced at £6 on March 30, 1849.
A rare example of Pugin domestic silver, it was pitched at £800-1200 but sold at £3200.
Textbook Ashbee
Arts & Crafts cup and cover made c.1905 at the Guild of Handicraft - £3200 at Kingham & Orme.
It was one of two pieces of architect-designed silverware included in the first day of the Evesham sale.
Also sold at £3200 was a 12in (30cm) Arts & Crafts cup and cover made c.1905 at the Guild of Handicraft in nearby Chipping Campden. Although only silver plate, set with red cabochons, it was a textbook Charles Robert Ashbee design.
