Prize Certificate Issued by Pye Bank Boys’ School

An anonymous designer

Print on white paper with handwritten inscription

5¾ x 4½ inches

Robert Steele’s Renaud of Montauban, on front paste-down

This certificate, awarded to William Coe for punctuality, is a good example of a label issued post 1870 (1898) by a state school, here run by the Sheffield School Board. Though bearing a device printed in red, its utilitarian design is markedly at odds with the classical excesses of the private sector. Purpose-built in 1875, Pye Bank school is now derelict. The awarding of such an elaborate and expensive book, illustrated and with Art Nouveau covers by Fred Mason, is unusual: a genuine treasure in reward for good time-keeping, but far too grown up for a child who was probably aged 12-14.

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