Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company English Sterling Silver Deco Biscuit Box, London, 1938-39, design attributed to A. E. Harvey

A stunning example of deco silver, this lovely biscuit box is well proportioned with bold, decorative elements. The wide, cylindrical body is completely unadorned with the seam to the lid creating a single decorative line. A lovely ring band foot is inset from the body and consists of four horizontal lines which matches the bold finial.

A hinged, slightly domed, stepped cover consists of four plains of varying widths. Great deco design relied on plain surfaces with strong geometric shapes to convey their beauty, a departure from the earlier ornamented wares. Biscuit boxes are rare and great deco examples of such high style are extremely rare.

A. E. Harvey, an Australian architect, was one of the first designers hired by a British silversmithing firm, in this case The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co., to design silver in the modern style for the mass market. Because of the great depression and second world war, little of this type silver was ever made.

This wonderful box is fully hallmarked on the side with maker's mark, lion passant, leopard's head and 'C' year mark for 1938/39 and the lid is marked with the lion passant and leopards head. It is also stamped underneath 'GOLDSMITHS &/ SILVERSMITHS COMPANY/ 112 REGENT STREET W'. It measures 5 inches high by 5 inches round, weighs 22.35 troy ounces, has never been engraved and is in very good/ excellent antique condition.