A silver celtic brooch designed by Alexander Ritchie and made in 1905.

This brooch is a known design by Alexander Ritchie and a near identical example can be seen on a commercial postcard illustrated in the excellent book “Iona Celtic Art – The Work of Alexander and Euphemia Ritchie” written by E. Mairi MacArthur.

The exact same design with Ritchie’s own makers marks can be seen on the excellent website on Alexander Ritchie:

http://www.alexander-ritchie.co.uk/other_brooch.htm

The brooch has hallmarks for Cornelius Saunders and Francis Shepherd (CS & FS), Chester, 1905. It is believed that Cornelius Saunders and Francis Shepherd submitted Ritchie’s silver work for hallmarking prior to him registering his own work in 1910.