Guild of Handicraft claret jug with hallmarks for London 1993, £2800 at Gorringe’s.
Period examples dating from the first decade of the 20th century with the original Powell of Whitefriars glass still intact very occasionally appear for sale, so it required a double or even a triple take when this lot was offered at Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Lewes on February 20 with an estimate of just £40-60.
At first glance the wirework appeared sufficiently tarnished to be a century or more old but close inspection revealed the hallmarks to date from 1993, making this one of the later reproductions made by Hart Silversmiths in Chipping Campden. When the Guild of Handicraft went into liquidation in 1908, the business was continued by George Henry Hart and still operates today, run by his great-grandson.
A five-figure price was hence not on the cards but it nonetheless sold way above its guide at £2800.
