MARK OF CHARLES FREDERICK HANCOCK, LONDON, 1864

CHARLES FREDERICK HANCOCK
Charles Frederick Hancock (1807-1891), first worked for the leading London goldsmiths Hunt and Roskell, becoming a partner, before leaving in 1849 to establish his own company, the prestigious manufacturing retail silversmith and jeweller of Bruton Street and Bond Street. It was known for the 'manufacture of plate and jewellery of a superior class, and is extensively patronised by the nobility and gentry, being noted for the taste and quality of its productions.' He paid particular attention to the quality of the sculptural elements of the production. 'Artists of celebrity are engaged as modellers of groups and designs...Among the modellers may be noted especially H. H. Armstead R.A.; C. B. Birch A. R. A.; Signor Raffaele Monti; Eugene Laury and Marshall Wood', quoted from W. Chaffers, Gilda Aurifabrorum, London, 1883, p. 97. Hancock’s use of professional modelers is evident in the present lot, as it is with his race prizes, and the numerous testimonials he produced. Such was his reputation that within a year he was awarded a Royal Warrant for supplying Queen Victoria.