Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Tankard and cover, silver, slightly tapering cylindrical body, low moulded base, engraved in the centre with the Royal arms of Charles II, crowned, above those of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, flanked by a round-ended rectangular reserve, one engraved with a scene of bodies of Plague being carried to their graves, the other with the skyline of the City of London on fire, both amid an extensive Latin inscription (see above); C-scroll handle raised in two parts and seamed; hinged stepped cover with cast bifurcated kidney thumbpiece, and projecting lip.

This is one of a number of flagons and tankards given to his friends by Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey (1621-1678). The inscription records how Godfrey, a Westminster magistrate, worked to check the progress of the Great Plague and was rewarded by the King with a large piece of plate. It also describes his knighthood of 1666, given for his services during the Fire of London. Some years later he converted his royal gift into several 'Plague and Fire' tankards. This example was given to Thomas Lamplugh (1618-1691), Archbishop of York.