Impressed with the performance at auction of the first tranche of material, a second consignment arrived including items from the stock of two subsidiary companies, Barker Ellis and A.E. Jones.
Discovered in a storeroom was a processional cross by Hardman & Co, made in the first decade of the 20th century to a Pugin design. Fashioned in gilt metal set with paste, the cross – its correct name is a Metropolitan cross – was consigned on April 24-25 with a £1200-1500 estimate.
Prior to sale it was spotted by a catalogue subscriber who happened to discuss it with the Reverend Brian Doolan of the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of St Chad in Birmingham. He searched out some old photographs and was able to identify it as the cross that had been in regular use at the cathedral until the early 1990s when it had been sent in for repair and subsequently lost.
It was immediately withdrawn from sale and, following an agreement with the vendor, will shortly be returning to its original home.
Cross and cathedral reunited
Auctioneers are not just there for the bad things in life. It was in 2006 that Salisbury firm Woolley & Wallis were contacted by Sheffield silversmith C.J. Vander, a company in administration with stock to liquidate.
