RARE SILVER

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 31, 5 August 1933, Page 10

RARE SILVER

CANTERBURY TREASURES

One, of the fascinations of the Festival ,of the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral, which was hcld.reeently, : was an exhibition of ancient church treasures held in the cathedi;a| library. ;■'-;-. '■■•■■' ■ The interest of .most, visitors—certainly | of those from the United States—wus I focused on a tall glass ease, that con-1 turned treasures of silver and gold which may justly. be said to be beyond price, since they can never be sold, though a king's ransom were offered for each one. Writing in tho "Daily Mail," F. G. Prime-White says: "Ifryou should demand an earnest of the treasures' unique character and quality, I would point first to what is known as the. Sandwich Cup. This is a small silver vessel made some 400 years or. more ago. Originally a ciborium and later inscribed, 'This is the Communion Coup," it is fashioned with the smplieity | of a poppy, and perhaps because of this delights the eye as surely as that flower's shape. Not long ago the cup so delighted the eye of an American collector of. old silver that he offered £15,000 for it. He left Canterbury witli his belief in the power of money somewhat shaken. "Then there is the Langdon Abbey paten, the oldest vessel of its kiiid in the i Diocese of Cuntorbury. It is of silver-gilt and dates from 148j. Langdon Abbey was one of the first religions houses to be 1 closed and plundered by oider of Hemy VIII.. Jt was a very rich abbey, possessing some of the most beautiful plute in tho land. "All of this fell into Henry's rapacious hands, with the exception of the paten now on view. How it escaped the royal melting-pot is a mystery, but it is deduced that sonic exceptionally brave and crafty monk at Langdon smuggled it out of the abbey to a place of safety while the King's marauders wore clamouring at tho gates. 'God bless him. whoever he was.' Dr. Charleo Cotton, a member of the cathedral chapter and an authority on such matters, said fervently, after telling the story. m * "Another silver link with human destiny ia a two-handled aiid lather ckittisliilv ornnte caudle-cup, a ve«cl that at one time figured frequently at christening celebrations in this country. One wonders at how many such celebrations this particular cup. fashioned in 107G, passed from lip to lip. , "Caudle, it seems, was held in established liking in the. seventeenth century. Tt was a queer kind of drink, as one may tell from the recipe which was supplied by Dr. Cotton. "One took a quart of green tea- and lieated it in a saucepan; then mixed the beaten yolk of four eggs with a pint of good sherry, added lnitineK mid sugar to taste, and poured this mixture into the piiucwnn of green,tea. It was stewed on tlic fire until the whole was bleuded well and of a comforting taste."