Irish Silver Pyx, Cork 1926

This is a rare and beautiful Irish provincial silver pyx made by William Egan and bearing the Cork town mark.

A pyx or pix is a small round container used by the Catholic church to carry the Eucharist to people who are unable to attend mass.

This circular pyx is contained within its original pouch and is lightly gilt to the inside. It is elaborately engraved to the top with the "IHS" Christogram in Celtic style. The underside is engraved with a personal inscription "To Frank from Mother 7.6.28" and bears a full set of Dublin hallmarks including the sought-after Cork town mark of a three-masted ship between two towers. 

William Egan & Sons were the most important Cork-based silversmiths of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The re-birth of the town mark was as a result of the 1922 Irish Civil War when Egans were unable to send silverware to Dublin for hallmarking and instead marked their wares internally with what today is known as "Republican" silver. Once connections with Dublin were re-established, Egans continued to use a different version of this stamp in combination with the offical Dublin Assay Office marks.