A rare Harold F Sargison silver bowl with opals

Price: Sold

For sale is this small silver bowl by Harold F Sargison, one of the leaders of the Tasmanian arts and crafts movement.  The bowl is set with two oval opals (possibly doublets).  Pieces like this by Sargison are rare and this piece is additionally signed “Harold F Sargison”, his  personal  mark (confirmed to me by the existing Sargison’s shop).  Most Sargison pieces are marked for his jewelry shop established in c 1919 that still surives in Hobart to this day.   I believe this piece likely pre-dates that shop’s establishment or was an exhibition piece – Sargison was a regular exhibitor at the Tasmanian arts and crafts exhibition in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Harold Francis Sargison (1885-1983), silversmith and clockmaker, was born on 10 October 1885 in Hobart, third of four children of Tasmanian-born parents Francis Augustus Sargison, an engineering pattern-maker, and his wife Ann Eleanor, née Evans. Harold attended Battery Point Model School and in 1902 was apprenticed for five years to a silversmith, Joseph William Quarmby.

He went into partnership with George Miller in a watchmaker and jeweller’s shop at 31 Murray Street, bought the business in 1919, and moved it in 1922 to 21 Elizabeth Street, where he developed a reputation as a fine craftsman. On 15 March 1924 at St David’s Cathedral he married with Church of England rites Doris Winsbury Ivey (d.1974), a clerk.

Exhibiting regularly in the 1920s with the Arts and Crafts Society of Tasmania, Sargison was influenced by its president, the architect and designer Alan Walker. In 1932 he made the elaborate gold monstrance, adorned with precious stones, designed by Walker for St Mary’s Cathedral, Hobart. Other significant works included a military trophy, now held by the Military Museum of Tasmania, Anglesea Barracks, a grandfather clock, shown at the 1931 arts and crafts exhibition in Hobart, the lord mayor of Hobart’s chain of office and the mace for the State parliament. In 1966 he moved his shop to premises in Liverpool Street, where it still resides.

His work is represented in public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Maker: Harold Sargison

Designer: Harold Sargison

Date: c 1910

Marks: Signed Harold F Sargison to base

Material: Sterling silver

Condition: Excellent, some minor salt damage to interior

Size: 13cm across the handles, 7cm high

Weight: 128 grams, 4.5 oz