An Arts & Crafts silver 'Cymric' ewer, Liberty & Co. (Cymric) Ltd., Birmingham, 1901, the design attributed to Oliver Baker

Oliver Baker, the antiquary, artist, author and dealer in old furniture, was born in Birmingham on 30 March 1856, the fourth son of the artist and etcher, Samuel Henry Baker (1825-1909) and his wife, Charlotte (née Chaplin, 1835-1892). He studied art under his father and at the Birmingham School of Art. As a painter, his favourite subjects were landscapes and old buildings; as an antiquary he eventually became a valuable member of the committee of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Among his writings were three books: the first a description of Ludlow town, the second on the history of blackjacks and leather bottles, and the third a detailed description of daily life in Warwickshire in the days of Shakespeare.

During Baker’s fruitful collaboration with Liberty’s in the late 1890s and early 1900s he produced many designs in ‘archaic’ style for cups, vases, boxes, buckles, &c. for the firm’s silver ‘Cymric’ and pewter ‘Tudric’ ranges, the former sometimes embellished with copper, enamel and semi-precious stones.

One of the founders of the Birmingham Art Circle and sometime on the committee of the archaeological section of the Midland Institute, Mr. Baker died at his residence, The Stone House, Bearley, Stratford-on-Avon on 8 April 1939.