A rare Dutch silver beaker, maker's mark a bird, The Hague, 1666

According to the records of the Reformed Church in Steenbergen, Pieter Verdijn (circa 1609-1667), silversmith in The Hague, supplied the Church with two silver beakers weighing 23 oncen. After his death on 7 October 1667 his widow Agatha van Groenesteijn was paid 91 gulden en 18 stuivers for them on 24 November 1667. (Archief van de Hervormde Gemeente Steenbergen (bijlagen bij de kerkmeestersrekeningen. Sotheby’s gratefully thanks Drs Tim Graas, SKKN, Utrecht for the information).

Since Verdijn also sold work of other silversmiths, for example candlesticks attributed to Gerardus de Bruijn, see Pijzel-Dommisse, Haags goud en zilver, Zwolle, 2005, plate 28, it is not clear whether the marks on the beaker are those of Verdijn. E. Voet illustrated the maker’s mark an eagle and town mark and date letter (Merken van Haagsche Goud- en Zilversmeden, The Hague, 1941, pp. 119, 160 no 26; 236) and mentioned the owner of one of the beakers at that time, the famous Welsh collector and author on antiques E. Alfred Jones (1872-1943). In addition to the many articles he wrote, Jones also compiled a number of illustrated catalogues of silver collections, including those in the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, the Cambridge colleges and American churches, as well as the collections of the Duke of Devonshire, Baroness James de Rothschild and the Emperor of Russia. He was a very respected man, who received many honorary M.A degrees from the University of Wales and Oxford University. He was a Fellow Commoner of Clare College, Cambridge and held an M.A from Rutgers University in New Jersey. His archive is kept in The Winterhur Library, America.

Presumably the beakers were sold by the church in 1899, when a new Communion service was donated to the church, made by Firm Begeer, Utrecht. Apparently E. Alfred Jones was in the possession of one of the beakers in 1941.