Liberty & Co

Walter Cook picked up some spectacular examples of art-nouveau pewter early in his collecting career. By the 1960s, Liberty & Co’s once popular ‘Tudric’ range had fallen out of fashion and was plentiful in Wellington second-hand shops.

As Walter said, ‘People were more likely to discard inherited objects associated with a gloomy past … as a result, quality second-hand goods from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were available in quantity and were relatively cheap.’ 

These pieces display the rhythmic, organic motifs that typify art nouveau. Walter bought them from Odds and Ends on Willis Street and Travis Antiques on Molesworth Street.

Text taken from exhibition Walter Cook: A Collector's Quest 2012.