Out-sold by the 100-times estimate £22,000 Japanese vase featured on last week’s News pages (ATG No 2380), this gold and silver-gilt chalice, right, offered at Lytham St Annes auction house Gerrards (18% buyer’s premium) on February 7 was a more predictable five-figure star.
The 10¼in (26cm) tall chalice in the French Gothic style was fully hallmarked to the bowl for 18ct gold and bore the silver hallmark of Dublin 1898 for John Smyth & Sons. Set throughout with amethysts and garnets, it was decorated with cast panels depicting ecclesiastical symbols, fruit and grain and bore an inscription: Presented by the priests of the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly to the Very Reverend Canon Cahill PP VG Tipperary, on the Golden Jubilee, June 2nd 1899.