Page 40 - BBR July 5 2020 Auction

The Croome Court Shaft & Globes
Six sealed 17th century sealed bottles were discovered near
the Croome Estate, Kinnersley, near Worcester in 2019. With
a possible pedigree of two Earls and a Baron they are likely to have been made in some of Britain’s earliest and most important glasshouses. Dug up in a builder’s yard 4 of the bottle seals
are missing - presumed deliberately removed before burial? Two, including the opposite lot, retain their seals and are
clearly readable. Two similar seals are recorded lacking the coronet (see Burton, pages 1320/21), one is detached (Museum of London), the other is on a shaft & globe
bottle of around 1650 found in Worcester. The addition
of a coronet on the Croome hoard seals is a significant difference, signalling a member of the Peerage.
BBR’s research suggests three possible owners
for these bottles. George Villiers, 2nd Duke of
Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros (1628-1687) and
owner of three glasshouses in London. Buckingham, like
his father the first Earl and 1st Marquess of Buckingham (granted in 1623) were key figures in the politics of the age and both men were hugely powerful figures. The second Earl was a pioneering investor in glassmaking, owning 3 glasshouses in London including the Lambeth factory once owned by Sir Robert Mansell, with a monopoly on plate and mirror glass making and employed George Ravenscroft, inventor of lead crystal glass.
The Earldom died out with the 2nd Duke but was recreated for the Coventry family in 1697. This is too late for the 6 bottles dating to c.1660-70. The find site is close to Croome Court, a Jacobean house dating from around 1640 (later remodelled in the 18th century, now owned by the National Trust) home of the Barons of Coventry. In heraldry Barons were first granted
a coronet, both real and heraldic, by Charles II in 1661 the year Thomas Coventry the 2nd Coventry Baron died. It may be George Coventry, 3rd Baron Coventry (1628-15 December 1680) commissioned bottles featuring a newly granted coronet? Supporting this idea is the fact he made sure his father’s tomb, unlike his grandfather’s, had one. The coronet on the bottle is not a perfect match for either an Earl’s or a Baron’s in later established heraldry but this may just be glassmakers at the time were not so precise in its styling, but
another possibility is conceivable. Thomas Coventry (ca. 1629-5 July 1699), who would be 1st Earl of Coventry of the second creation in 1697, was at the time the bottles were made, the son of a Baron and known as the
Hon. Thomas Coventry. He may have used a Crest-Coronet is similar
to the seal’s, on a new batch of bottles to signal his rise in heraldic status in 1661.
147. ENGLISH SEALED SHAFT & GLOBE WINE BOTTLE.
8.3ins tall, c.1665-70. This is complete shaft and globe
bottle but missing the actual body seal. The patina covering
the point where the seal once was suggests removal before
tossed away/ buried - some part of a seal usually remains
when damage or corrosion occurs but this appears to have been
deliberately knocked off with a chisel? Even unsealed early Shaft &
Globe forms are considerable rarities but the apparent seal removal
here, & location of discovery/ Coventry/ Croome Court connection
we believe adds to their antiquarian interest. Additional images can be
found on easyliveauction.com. Apart from the magnificent gold iridescence covering almost the entire form this item is relatively complete with just two sections of string rim damage, negligible/ acceptable on such a rarity. NR £1,500- 2,000+