Charming small Arts & Crafts vase by CH Brannam for Bobby & Co, c1910. Simple baluster form vase with angular twin handles. Burgundy coloured heavy glaze over a pale ground - with the pale ground showing through at high points and glaze voids/lines, adding to its Arts & Crafts charm! Impressed Brannam Barum mark to base together with "FOR BOBBY & CO LTD" partly obscured by the glaze. Clearly made for sale through Bobby & Co Ltd stores. The vase is 14 cm in height.
 
In 1848 Thomas Brannam took over the lease of an existing pottery North Walk, and another in Litchdon Street, Barnstaple. The firm’s primary trade was in utilitarian wares although one of their decorative jugs won a medal at the 1851 Great Exhibition. In 1867 Thomas's son, Charles Hubert Brannam joined the pottery aged 12 – by 1879, persuading his father to allow him to produce art ware. Charles eventually took over the Litchdon Street pottery and further developed the art pottery department. He recruited skilled designers, but continued to throw the ware himself. In 1885 he received an order from Queen Victoria and in 1886 he registered the name Royal Barum Ware – ensuring it was sold by several London firms including Liberty. Charles handed the business over to his sons, Charles William Brannam, and John Woolacott (Jack) Brannam, in 1913 – becoming a limited liability company in 1914. Jack's son, Peter, carried out considerable modernization in the post-war period, but when he retired in 1979 he sold the business to Candy Tiles of Newton Abbot. In 1989 production moved to a site on the Roundswell Industrial Estate but remained "C.H.Brannam & Sons Ltd" despite no family connection. C.H.Brannam & Sons Ltd ceased operations in 2005.
Bobby & Co. was a department store group based mainly in seaside towns on the south coast of England. The firm started when Frederick James Bobby (1860-1941) purchased an established drapery store in Margate in 1886. Success and expansion resulted in the firm being incorporated in 1900 followed by the opening of further stores in south coast seaside resorts. Frederick Bobby retired from the business in 1927, selling his shares to a recently formed retail conglomerate, the Drapery Trust. In 1927 Debenhams Ltd acquired a controlling interest in the Drapery Trust which eventually merged with Debenhams in 1934.