A matching pair of arts and crafts chargers by Philip Frederick Alexander

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These hand hammered presentation plates were made several years apart commissioned by the same person and are being sold as a pair.  Both represent outstanding workmanship and bear the engraved inscription “Designed & executed by Philip Alexander M.A.”

Both plates are decorated with oak leaves and acorns. One plate is hallmarked with the London date letter “k” for 1905/06.  This plate is engraved with the following inscription: “Campbell and Christabel Farrar on their marriage from Ada and Clement Nugent Jackson, Oxford, April 1906”.

The other plate is hallmarked with the London date letter “r” for 1912/13.  It is very similar to the previous item and is engraved with the following inscription: “Irene Charlotte Montefiore Binsteed on her marriage from Ada and Clement Nugent Jackson, June 15 1912”.

Maker:  Philip Frederick Alexander

Designer:  Philip Frederick Alexander

Date: 1905 and 1912

Marks: PFA, “k” and “r”, London

Material: Sterling silver

Condition: Excellent

Size: 29.5 cm diameter

Weight: 14.9 and 17.5 oz, 423 and 496 grams

SKU: S9

Additional Information

Philip Frederick Alexander was born in Hampstead, London in 1865. He registered his PFA mark with the London Assay Office on 6 July 1900, at which time his address was recorded as 28 Church Row, Hampstead, London NW.  He entered a further similar PFA mark on 21 November 1900.

He appears to have moved to Walberswick, near Southwold in Suffolk, before the First World War.  In the 1911 census his occupation is described as “Artist Metalwork” and he is recorded as living at The Mill Field, Walberswick, with his wife, two daughters.   He had a workshop in the garden at his Walberswick address. Silver with his PFA mark has been noted with dates between 1903 and 1921, though he may well have been active as a silversmith outside these dates.

As well as working in silver, he executed work in copper and brass.  One of his works in brass is the memorial in St Andrew’s Church, Walberswick, to the six Walberswick men who were killed in action during the First World War.

He was also an author and school master. He edited several books including “The North-West and North-East Passages 1576-1611”, published in 1915,  “The Earliest Voyages round the World 1519-1617”, published in 1916,  and “The Discovery of America 1492-1584”, published in 1917.

Alexander died in 1958, and his wife Frances died in 1960.

The donor of both presentation plates, Clement Nugent Jackson (1846-1924), was a British athlete (he was a gifted hurdler), academic, and athletics administrator.  He was educated at the University of Oxford’s Magdalen Hall (renamed Hertford College in 1874), where he became a don in 1869.  Later he was Bursar for Hertford College and then Senior Proctor for the University of Oxford.

Period

Art nouveau, Arts and crafts