Rare silver cutlery designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh sells for nearly £180,000 at auction

An extremely rare suite of silver cutlery designed by renowned Scottish artist and architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, has sold for nearly £180,000 at auction.

The soup spoon, dessert spoon, dinner fork and dessert fork formed part of a set commissioned in 1902 by the Scottish artist and embroiderer Jessie Newbury, and her husband Francis (Fra) Newbery.

Jessie and Fra were long-standing friends of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his artist wife, Margaret Macdonald. 

Fra Newbury played a crucial role in promoting Mackintosh’s work, commissioning him to design Glasgow School of Art, where he was then Director, in 1896.

The order for the cutlery was placed through Glasgow jeweller, Edwards & Company, and made by David W. Hislop, a skilled silversmith who has worked previously with Mackintosh on a number of projects.

Later, the set was divided between the Newbery’s daughters, Mary and Elsie and over time the pieces Mary inherited were sold separately between 1970 and 1980.

It sold at a Lyon & Turnbull auction for £175,200, nearly six times the £20,000 – £30,000 estimate.

‘We are, as you can imagine, absolutely delighted with the prices achieved, particularly for the exquisite Charlie Rennie Mackintosh suite of cutlery,’ John Mackie from Lyon & Turnbull said.

‘Mackintosh’s cutlery design was revolutionary. The spoons and forks have exceptionally long, slender handles. The forks are particularly striking with a seamless transition between the handle and bowl creating the illusion of a single, continuous band of metal.

‘It’s always exciting to be on the rostrum and today’s result testifies to the enduring and growing appetite for Mackintosh’s pioneering and distinctive design.’

Associate Specialist Ursula Goldsmith with works by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Credit: Stewart Attwood.

The Design Since 1860 auction featured various other items by Mackintosh including a watercolour of a French village painted by Charlie Rennie Mackintosh just three years before he died. 

The work, titled Bouleternère, which was painted in 1925, sold for £150,200.

Meanwhile two small, early watercolours, ‘Brookweed’ and ‘Pimpernel,’ produced more than two decades earlier in 1901, both fetched £18,900, respectively.

A cabinet designed by Mackintosh for Scotland Street School in Glasgow in 1906 went under the hammer for £7,560.

Read more News stories here.

Subscribe to read the latest issue of Scottish Field.