Hereford No. 4 / Herefordie

An auction record of 30 August 2021 from Finch & Co (+44 (0)20-7689 7500) notes the sale [no price given] of "An Early Anglo-Norman Octagonal Limestone Baptismal Font With old drilled drainage hole from use as a garden planter Lower stone plinth a 19th century addition. 11th - 12th Century. Size: 94cm high, 74cm wide, 74cm deep - 37 ins high, 291⁄4 ins wide, 291⁄4 ins deep. Provenance: From the garden of a Herefordshire Vicarage the house acquired by the owners family in the 19th century Thence by descent. See: Finch and Co catalogue no. 18, item no. 59, for an Anglo Saxon font." The item is illustrated with a photograph [cf. ImagesArea] that shows an octagonal basin with plain vertical sides, and a round interior; raised on a square pedestal base. The claimed date -11th-12thC- is not supported by the design of the font or the documentation provided for in the sale form; such plain octagonal basins were made for centuries.