Spoon, silver, London, 1916-1917

Omar Ramsden (1873-1939), son of a successful Sheffield manufacturer, had met Alwyn Carr (1872-1940) as a fellow design student at the Sheffield School of Art. In 1897, Ramsden won First Prize in the open competition for the design of a mace for the Sheffield City Council and turned to Carr for help with its execution leading to their formal partnership in 1898.

Business flourished and the workshop, now enlarged to include specialist chasers, engravers and enamellers as well as general silversmiths in new premises and showroom in Fulham. The character of the wide range of silver produced, domestic, ceremonial and religious, is linked by its apparent hand made appearance and an English decorative quality of historic reference to medievalism as well as occasionally, a subtle awareness of the sinuous lines of contemporary Art Nouveau.

The partnership was dissolved in 1918, after which, Ramsden and Carr ran independent studios until their respective deaths. Silver with a rat tailed bowl and handle surmounted by a cast figure of Britannia with shield and trident. The inner side of the bowl chased.