Price range: £6,450

A rare large Oliver Baker copper and silver jardiniere made for the Liberty Cymric range.  The jardiniere is designed as a Saxon or Viking style galleon with silver overlaying copper. The sides of the bowl set with Connemara marble and the eyes of the figure heads set with turquoise.

This is a classic Oliver Baker piece and an early Cymric design.  This bowl appears in the first illustrated Liberty Cymric catalogue, page 11. where it is described as follows:

“Silver Copper Flower Bowl. Enamelled collar and set with Connemara Stones and Turquoise. £28 10s.”

This piece has bo enamel. The price of of £28 10s undoubtedly explains the rarity of this design – that represents around £5,000 in today’s money inflated, but in relation to  weekly earnings more like £28,000.

Like most of Liberty’s early works for Oliver Baker the piece is heavy and a very good gauge of silver and copper.  The jardiiere is not marked which would have been illegal under British assay laws as the silver is soldered to the copper.

The bowl is in overall excellent antique original condition, with a lovely dark patina to the copper.  There is  a small bruise to one central silver element and the interior of the bowl shows aged patina from water contact.   For more details on Oliver Baker see my article on him at this link.

Maker: Liberty & Co

Designer: Oliver Baker

Date : c. 1900

Marks: Unmarked

Material: Sterling silver, copper, Connemara, turquoise

Condition: Very good – see description

Size: Length 32 cm, width 20 cm, height 15cm

Weight: NM – heavy!