On August 29 we are honoured to be selling a collection of gilt Easter eggs, filled with surprises, by the late great Stuart Devlin.
An Australian by birth, Devlin designed that nation’s first decimal coinage in the mid 1960s, as well as creating the medals for Australia’s new honours system a decade later.
By that time he had already made a considerable name for himself across several continents and had undertaken a travel scholarship at the Royal College of Art in London from 1958 to 1960, having gained the highest marks ever studying gold and silversmithing at Melbourne Technical College.
Opening a workshop in Clerkenwell, London (followed by several others), Devlin gave employment to craftsmen and women while he developed new designs, techniques and ideas, creating wonders in jewellery, cutlery, candlesticks and other homewares, as well as trophies, clocks and masterpieces like his range of Christmas boxes and decorative eggs, each containing a bejewelled surprise and still, astonishingly, valued at only a few hundred pounds each.
I was amazed to discover that this genius, who sadly passed away in Chichester on April 12, had designed coins and medals for no fewer than 36 countries in his time.
As a worthy Royal Warrant holder, he became Prime Warden of the Goldsmith’s Company from 1996-97.
As I said at the top of the piece, it is an honour to be marking his passing by celebrating the man’s work in this way.
