A rare Commonwealth goblet has sold for nineteen times its estimate at Mallams, an auction house based in Oxford.
The silver wine goblet, with slightly flared bowl, bore the maker’s mark I.G. above a star and was engraved with ‘L’ over ‘WM’ initials on its side. It had some minor knocks and scratches, but was otherwise in good condition. Its hallmarks showed it was made in London in 1655, a tumultuous period between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the arrival of his son Charles in London in 1660, a time when Puritanism was the dominating religion in England.
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With no monarch on the throne, Puritanical ideology sought to end decoration and embellishment. The silver from this period was subsequently plain, lacking decorative flourishes, and of modest proportions. According to Antiques Trade Gazette, most pieces were subsequently melted down or reworked, mostly for coin during the Civil Wars, making surviving pieces incredibly rare.
The auction attracted a stream of phone bidders, pushing its pre-sale estimate of £300-500 ( $420-700) up to a winning bid of £9,500 ($13,200) at the sale on June 16.
