An extremely rare George II English provincial coffee pot, Liverpool circa 1730 by Benjamin Brancker (active until 1734)

of tapering cylindrical “lighthouse” form with moulded rims, the hinged domed lid surmounted by a compressed knop finial. The curved spout with shell base and terminal opposite a wooden C scroll handle. Marked underneath and to inside of lid with makers mark BB below a liver bird twice and STER over LING twice.

Height – 24 cm / 9.5 inches

Weight – 644 grams / 20.71 ozt

Benjamin Brancker, who is known to have been working in Liverpool from the early years of the 18th century, was succeeded in business by his son John in 1734. For further information, including details of his petition in 1715 to the Corporation of Chester to become a freeman of that city, see Maurice H. Ridgway, Chester Goldsmiths from Early Times to 1726, John Sherratt & Son Ltd., Altringham, 1968, pp. 123-124; and Ian Pickford, editor, Jackson's Silver and Gold Marks of England, Scotland and Ireland, third edition, Antique Collectors' Club, Woobridge, pp. 413-415.