A beaten copper alms dish designed by Frederick “Dendy” Wray and made by Blunt & Wray, circa 1904.

Ecclesiastical metalwork is not typically what I look for but this piece is quite special and very much in the Arts and Crafts style. The alms dish was designed by Frederick Dendy Wray who was half of the partnership that formed the ecclesiastical metalworkers Blunt and Wray. They primarily worked in silver but they also worked in brass and copper producing very high quality items for churches and cathedrals.

This particular alms dish warranted being illustrated in The Studio in 1904 along with some other pieces made by Blunt & Wray. It’s also fully stamped “Blunt and Wray” to the reverse. It displays exceptionally well.

The quality of Blunt & Wray’s work is well illustrated by this short story about a cross they made for Westminster Cathedral found here