COLLECTION OF PEWTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 304, 15 March 1928, Page 13

COLLECTION OF PEWTER

GIFT TO LONDON GUILD AUCKLANDER'S HOBBY Captain N. G. Harries, of Birkenhead, a noted collector of old and rare pewter, has given the collections of a lifetime to the Worshipful Company of Pewterers. This is one of the earliest of London trade guilds, having been in existence since IS4S. Captain Harries is a recognised authority on pewter, and his treasures are known to other collectors of repute. He is a member of the Society of Pewter Collectors, the membership of which is limited to 30. This fraternity constitutes a sort of Privy Council on all matters relating .to the authentication of pieces of ancient pewter.^ Captain Harries’s collection Includes three chargers with reeded edges of 17th century workmanship, two large communion flagons, and a small plate of extreme rarity bearing the “touch” of John Tubb. Three smaller flagons are of the time of Charles 11.. two others of William 111., and one of Georg© I. A “footed” communion paten of the 17th century on octagonal base is believed to be one of the most perfect of its kind in existence. The late Stuart candlestick is known to collectors as one of the vety few extant, and according to a recognised authority not more than half a dozen of them have come down to our time. Among other subjects of special interest in the collection are a standing salt cellar of early Stuart or late Elizabethan times, two sugar-sifting spoons dating from the reign of Queen Anne and a spoon of the time of Henry VIII.