Roy — A really important find. It is the only one I've seen since I had mine. Note that it doesn't carry a trade mark — Sowerby was one of the first to register their family crest, the peacock's head, under the new trade mark legislation which came into effect in 1876 — and so, to the best of my knowledge, this covered sugar is the only Sowerby pre-TM conventionally pressed design that could be described as "fancy", all the others being imitation cut or other geometric patterns. Indeed, as the fancy bowl in the drawing for J.G. Sowerby's 1871 patent (see Hajdamach) may only have existed as a drawing — the patent only known today on some much simpler plates — this covered sugar is the earliest fancy known for Sowerby, and for the great J.G. Sowerby, who must have been heavily involved in its design. It's an important item for any comprehensive Sowerby collection.
... and a strange coincidence. I've had an application for a disability living allowance being processed now for about two months — it's a complicated process. At the end of last week I heard that our Government, bless their little cotton socks, has lost my file. We have to start all over again. So yesterday morning I dug out my file on the accident, again. It was some months before I saw that covered sugar again, and like almost all my glass, it was in tiny pieces.
Better luck with yours, Roy, and please would you let us know the registration date.
Bernard C.