The words unique and rare are often over-used, but in this instance are a perfectly accurate description of this enamel. Each year one of the artists at Moorcroft Enamels was invited to create a prestige piece for the annual Open Event. In 2005 Stephen was asked to create a design and it was suggested he should use the new goblet shape that had just been commissioned. He duly obliged with this magnificent pair of goblets, painted inside and out with Linnets. As Moorcroft announced the closure of Moorcroft Enamels shortly afterwards, these became the only pair of goblets that Stephen has painted. Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, this is the only time Linnets have appeared as a design subject on a Moorcroft Enamel. They are therefore truly unique and rare. They were auctioned at the October 2005 Open Event in Worcester and realised a price of just over £2000.

The base of each goblet is marked 1/1, indicating that they are the only pair in existence. The base also carries the S.J.S. "monogram" used by Stephen when Moorcroft asked each artist to choose a mark during the last two years of the company's existence. Stephen decided against a symbolic mark, preferring to have his work signed and initialled. Each goblet is in fact signed within the design and (unusually) on the base.

Although not the most brightly coloured of our finches, the male Linnet makes a splendid sight in spring as it sings from a perch with its wine-splashed breast and cap. Linnets are now mostly birds of heath and waste ground, as modern agricultural methods often mean that the weeds that provide the seeds of their staple diet are not very abundant around farmland. Stephen's designs for the goblets depict two male and one female bird on the outside of each goblet, while the inside of one goblet features a typical nest deep inside a gorse bush.