£575
Jewellery, Watches & Silver | 611
Auction: 15 September 2020 at 11:00 BST
the canted rectangular dark brown quartz matrix with engraved shield, crest and motto, 'Virtus sola nobilitat' (Virtue alone confers Nobility) for Blake, Baronet simple threaded and ribbed decoration, plain hoop
The Arms of Blake, Baronet of Menlough in the County of Galway
The arms as engraved upon the matrix of this late 18th to early 19th Century Gentleman’s Gold and Quartz Personal Seal or Signet are those of Blake, Baronet of Menlough in the County of Galway.1 These armorial bearings may be blazoned as follows:
Arms: Argent a fret gules
In chief is shown the baronet’s augmentation.
Crest: A cat passant guardant proper
Motto: Virtus sola nobilitat [Virtue alone ennobles]
Given the presumed date of manufacture of this seal or signet there are three candidates all who of whom may have had possession of it during the specified time scale viz: a brother and a father and son, who were consecutively the 9th, 10th and 11th baronets. Any of one these three baronets would have been able to commission this seal fob or signet upon their succession to the baronetcy.
The first candidate was Sir Thomas Blake (died 3rd March 1787), the 9th Baronet of Menlough who married Eleanor Lynch (died July 1792) in 1730. Sir Thomas was succeeded by the second candidate, his brother, Sir Walter Blake (born after 1730 died 14th April 1802), the 10th Baronet of Menlough who married Barbara Burke (died 14th April 1802),2 the daughter of Myles Burke, of Ower in the County of Galway. Sir Thomas and Sir Walter were eldest and second sons of Thomas Blake3 (died 1764), of Brendrum in the County of Galway and his wife, Mary Lynch and inherited the family’s baronetcy upon his elder brother’s death on the 3rd March 1787. Upon Sir Walter’s death in 1802, his eldest son John (born 15th July 1753 died 1834) succeeded as the 11th Baronet of Menlough.
The Blake family descend from Thomas Blake (died 20th January 1574) who served as Mayor of Galway in 1545 and 1562.