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Mark of the Week: Liberty & Co., Cymric Silver and Archibald Knox

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This 3 ½-inch-high Art Nouveau period enameled silver tea caddy, designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., 1905, had some minor dings and some enamel loss but still realized $1,715.
This 3 ½-inch-high Art Nouveau period enameled silver tea caddy, designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., 1905, had some minor dings and some enamel loss but still realized $1,715.

The piece pictured above is an Art Nouveau-period enameled silver tea caddy by Liberty & Co. Liberty was one of the leading producers of Art Nouveau decorative arts and textile items.

The firm was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875, the original store located at 218A Regent Street, London, England. The firm remains in operation to this day as a department store on Great Marlborough Street in the West End of London, which sells luxury goods, including stationery and gifts, jewelry, homeware and furniture.

In 1898, Liberty formed a partnership with silversmith William Hair Haseler of W. H. Haseler & Co. to produce a new silver line under the title Liberty and Co. (Cymric) Ltd., using freelance designers. Archibald Knox (1864-1933) was one of those designers who began working for Liberty in 1899. Knox focused on the new Celtic design work for the Cymric line, and its pewter counterpart, known as Tudric.

W. H. Haseler & Co. was responsible for making many of Knox’s designs. The Knox name does not appear on any of the objects that he designed for Liberty, nor in its catalogues of the time. The silver pieces, like this by Knox, bear the standard British hallmarks for Liberty & Co., in this case the Liberty & Co. maker’s marks, the assay mark for the city of Birmingham and the date mark for 1905.

This piece by Knox bears the standard British hallmarks for Liberty & Co., in this case the Liberty & Co. maker’s marks, the assay mark for the city of Birmingham and the date mark for 1905.
This piece by Knox bears the standard British hallmarks for Liberty & Co., in this case the Liberty & Co. maker’s marks, the assay mark for the city of Birmingham and the date mark for 1905.

It was while he was working for Liberty & Co. that Knox began designing pieces for which he is most famous, creating items for their Cymric line of silver (1899) and its Tudric pewter line (1902). It is unknown just how many pieces Knox designed for Liberty, as much of the company’s records were destroyed by fire during the Second World War.

In 1912, Knox left Britain, seeking employment in the United States, returning to the Isle of Man in 1913, just before the outbreak of the First World War One. During the war (1914-18), he worked as a censor in an alien detention camp on the Isle of Man, and taught after the war at a number of schools on the island. He died from sudden heart failure on Feb. 22, 1933 and was buried in Braddan Cemetery.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Knox’s birth, the Isle of Man Post Office issued a set of 10 stamps featuring his designs, released on April 2014.


Mike Wilcox, of Wilcox & Hall Appraisers, is a Worthologist who specializes in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Craft movement. He can be reached through his website Antique-Appraise.com website.

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