Six Fruit Knives & Forks

Silver; in original silk-lined, leather box
71/2 in (19.1 cm) - length of knives
6 in (15.3 cm) - length of forks
English (London), 1925/26

MARKED: Fully marked on each handle; the inside of the box lid inscribed ‘OMAR RAMSDEN Artist Goldsmith London, England’.

PROVENANCE: Supplied by Omar Ramsden; thence by descent.

Ramsden’s partnership with Alwyn Carr (1872-1940) was formally dissolved in 1919. The former then continued independently until his death. Although during this later stage of his career Ramsden became increasingly commercial, simple, hammered pieces, in the spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement, continued to be made by such long-time associates as Herbert Borley and Bill Gardiner.

For an outline of Ramsdens’s life and career see Peter Cannon-Brooks, ‘Introduction’ in Omar Ramsden 1873-1939: Centenary Exhibition of Silver, Birmingham, 1973 (unpaginated).