A very rare Ruskin Pottery ashtray covered in green and orange bands over a blue crystalline glaze with silver mount by the master silversmith of the Arts and Crafts movement, Albert Edward Jones. He registered his first mark with the Birmingham Assay Office on the 1st of December 1902, and silver pieces with small Ruskin pottery roundels and glazed wares started to appear in 1903. The Ruskin Pottery was founded by Edward Richard Taylor, the principal of Birmingham School of Art, where Jones trained as a silversmith and designer. The pottery studio closed in 1935, and the formulae for the glazes were deliberately destroyed so that they could never be replicated.
The ashtray presents impressed marks on the pottery “Ruskin England 1930.” The silver presents A. E. J, the Lion Passant, the Birmingham Assay mark, and date letter “F” for 1930.
Very Rare A. E. Jones Silver Mounted Ruskin Pottery Ashtray, Birmingham, 1930
The ashtray is in very good condition. The silver maker's mark is slightly rubbed.
