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Louis Le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)Study towards an Image of W.B. YeatsWatercolour, 22 x 17.5cm (8¾ x 7'')Signed with initials and dated (19)'75Exhibited: The Dawson Gallery (Label verso); 'Louis le Brocquy’, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast, January - February 1976, where purchased by the current owners; ‘Louis le Brocquy: A Recherche de Yeats’, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, October - November 1976, Etude 73; ‘Louis le Brocquy: Edinburgh Festival Exhibition’, 1977, Richard Demarco Gallery.Yeats, the most varied mind of the Irish race, the last - and perhaps the only - Romantic poet in English to manage a full career. Le Brocquy, the most dedicated Irish painter since Yeats’ brother died, with an intuitive sympathy for literature and mythology, an increasingly rare reverence before the human. Their meeting has an aspect of inevitability. In the last decade le Brocquy has reinvented for himself the idea of portraiture, moving through family and friends to contemplate master spirits of his country, like Joyce and Beckett. As he says ''simply because by their works I know them, and am drawn to peer through their familiar, ambiguous faces which mask and at the same time embody - the great worlds of their vision''. And now Yeats, whom le Brocquy knew as a boy. Fascinatingly, the ideals and techniques of the two artists have much in common. One of the foolishnesses of modern psychology is to believe that we have only a few, usually warring, selves. But a Prospero, like Yeats, may live many lives, inhabit many faces, while achieving a unity in variety. At an early stage, he began to play with his doctrine of the Mask, the anti-self, as a discipline for spiritual or physical plenitude. ''I call to my own opposite'', he says, ''all / That I have least looked upon''. Let us examine his selves, as they pass before us, in slow procession. There is the dreamy young man who pressed himself to the earth of Sligo and Howth, like a lover. He wanted to go and live on an island, or in a cave, like Shelley's Alastor, a young man burdened with dreams. But dreams can be harnessed and that young romantic, a cowslick of hair carefully plastered over his brow, is a more wily customer that he seems. George Moore might wickedly compare his cawing voice to a crow's, his solemn poet's robes to an umbrella left behind at a picnic, but he also testified to his intellectual strength. It took a masterful man to found and manage the Abbey Theatre, to propagandise for an Irish Literary Renaissance. So the tuneless crow becomes a sacerdotal heron, a high priest of the arts. And the gaunt celibate becomes a great lover, who kneels before Maud Gonne, the English army captain's daughter who was his personification of Ireland, as Petrarch did before Laura, Homer before Helen. Love has as many allotropes as carbon - from soot to diamond - and Yeats weathered all the stages, crying out in frustration for the bosom of his ''faery bride'', swearing friendship with Olivia Shakespeare, collaborating with Lady Gregory, achieving a profoundly psychic exchange in his marriage with his medium wife. For Yeats was a trained mystic, a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, who did not play with, but actually practised magic. Technically, le Brocquy's method is akin to that of certain noble poems of Yeats where he names and numbers his friends, living and dead, or sets different aspects of himself to dialogue, even to dance. So the painter invokes faces of the poet, public and private, to challenge and exchange. Compare earlier and later visages. The short-sighted sighing inventor of the Celtic Twighlight is now a ''smiling public man'' (No. 5). The right eye sharp, the left hooded, he exudes a satisfied power, like a replete bird of prey, ''the lidless eye that loves the sun''. The cowslick becomes a crest, a ruffled plumage, and the wide black riband, falling from the tortoise-shell- rimmed glasses, is set like a bar across his face. Significantly le Brocquy moves towards whiteness, the full majesty of paint, as the poet moves towards wholeness, definition. But with friends, Yeats could still display the full battery of his moods, changing from rage to affection, from solemnity to boyishness, in a single instant, like sun chasing shadow across a West of Ireland field. For behind the silver-haired Senator, the majestic black hatted Nobel Prize winner, with his carefully rehearsed gestures, is still the young poet, the spiritual fanatic in search of truth. Crow, heron, eagle, scarecrow, le Brocquy dwells with wonder on the changing roles of Yeats; but my supreme favourite among these psychic portraits, these attempts to show how the spirit speaks and shines through the casket of the brain, the exposed or retreated eye, the chosen regalia, is one which combines the earlier and later selves (No. 3). The eyes are lifted triumphantly above the glasses, the lips are widening to smile, the hair is in disarray; this man has lived a strenuous life of achievement, has glimpsed truth and is not afraid of death: his ''ancient glittering eyes are gay''. We acknowledge our thanks to the late John Montague who had granted us permission to reproduce his preface to catalogue ‘Louis le Brocquy. A Ia Recherche de Yeats’ which had included this piece.

Philip Flanagan (b.1960)Portrait Bust of Seamus Heaney Bronze on limestone base, 31.5 x 57cm overall (12½ x 22½'')Signed with artist's device and signed AC (Artist's Copy), edition of 9Signed also by poet Seamus Heaney and dated 1990 on plaque insideProvenance: The Eamonn Mallie Collection, bought from Shambles Gallery, Hillsborough.If knowing your sitter as a sculptor stands for anything then there was no excuse for Philip Flanagan not unlocking the soul of Seamus Heaney. TP Flanagan, Sheelagh his wife, Seamus Heaney and his wife Marie had been friends for over half a century. Terry responded to Heaney's poems in paint and vice versa and TP's son Philip, who trained as a sculptor at Camberwell College in England, would have known Seamus Heaney from childhood.I purchased this Heaney (AP) head from Sheelagh Flanagan in the early Nineties. I had no reticence in parting with my money. I had met Heaney several times down the years and despite the fact that our legs hung out of the same nest in many ways, we did not get beyond a passing acquaintance. I loved the way Flanagan latched onto Heaney's rural ruggedness and his unruly head of hair. The artist didn't play at nicey nicey…..he went rural. I had a discussion with the Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie about when is the right time to paint or sculpt a head. He contends this is a matter of judgement. Gillespie lamented he had not had the opportunity to sculpt Polish Pope John Paul II, not as the handsome fatherly figure he was when he surfaced firstly, but as he was dying in public wracked with disease. Over the years I have seen some very poor sculptural attempts at winning the essence of Heaney. Flanagan left me with no doubts in his choice of timing to capture Heaney. For some time Heaney's head has faced motionlessly out into our street as its maker Flanagan walks by. I wonder what thoughts go through Philip's head Perhaps he will share those thoughts with me one day. I will not have that luxury in the case of Heaney. My neighbour who went to Annahorish Primary School attended by Heaney, told me The day Seamus Heaney was leaving our school our teacher Mrs Murphy told us 'a genius' is leaving our school today”. I still find it hard to believe, having penned the words 'Noli timere’, the book closed on this genius son of a South Derry farmer. Think however of what Heaney left us in 'Cure at Troy.' So hope for a great sea-changeOn the far side of revenge.Believe that further shoreIs reachable from here.Believe in miracleAnd cures and healing wells. Eamonn MallieBeneath my finger and my thumbMy snug pen restsUnder my windows, a clean rasping soundWhen the spade sinks into gravelly groundMy father digging, I look downTill his straining rump among the flowerbedsBends low, comes up twenty years awayStooping in rhythm through potato drillsWhere he was diggingThe coarse boot nestled against the leg, the shaftAgainst the inside knee, was levered firmlyHe rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deepTo scatter new potatoes that we pickedLoving their cool hardness in our handsBy God the old man could handle a spadeJust like his old manMy grandfather cut more turf in a dayThan any other man on Toner’s BogOnce I carried him milk in a bottleCorked sloppily with paper. He straightened upTo drink it, then fell to it right awayNicking and slicing neatly, heaving sodsOver his shoulder, going down for the good turf,DiggingThe cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slapOf soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edgeThrough living roots awaken in my headBut I’ve no spade to follow men like themBetween my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it.Seamus Heaney, Digging from Death of a Naturalist, 1966This head of Seamus Heaney was made in the cottage at Roughra in August 1990. Seamus Heaney agreed to sit with me and we made it up in Donegal. There were three sittings for the head, each sitting lasting two hours. I decided that, because I had such a limited time to make the head, I would make it more like a large charcoal drawing, in that I would keep everything very general - very loose kind of modelling, but at the same time a tight framework of measurement under the surface, so that the head would not sway away from my intentions to get a likeness and to express Seamus Heaney’s personality.In Seamus Heaney’s head, I am particularly pleased with the modelling of the hair. As this head was sculpted in 1990, this was a kind of breakthrough for me in terms of the way I was modelling. Before that, I had been tutored in a very academic kind of way, but the Heaney head was a departure in that I really buttered the clay on, giving a casual feeling to the hair, but at the same time strong directional lines so that it is quite a forceful piece of modelling. The way that the clay is modelled also reminds me of bog cuts. Around the cottage in Donegal, we are surrounded by bog and it gives me great pleasure to walk in the bog and let the feeling of that dark solid earth take over. I find it very sculptural. This head has a classical feel to it and I hope it gives the impression of Heaney as a bog king.Philip Flanagan

William Scott OBE RA (1913-1989)Blue and White (1964)Oil on canvas, 44 x 44cm (17¼ x 17¼'')SignedProvenance: From the collection of the architect Michael Scott and his sale, Christies Dublin, May 1989, Lot No. 89. Exhibited: 'William Scott: Recent Paintings', The Hanover Gallery, London, September - October 1965, Catalogue No.6; 'William Scott', The Dawson Gallery, January - February 1967, Cat. No. 14, where purchased; ‘Modern Irish Painting’, Major European Touring Exhibition which started in Helsinki October 1969 and travelled to Goteborg, Norrkoping, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Bielefeld, Bonn, Saarbrücken, London, Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, Donegal and Mayo. Literature: 'William Scott: Catalogue Raisonne of Oil Paintings', Catalogue No.570, illustrated.When the late Anne Crookshank, as a young curator of visual art at The Ulster Museum in Belfast in 1958, appealed to local pride and begged her fiscal overlords to agree to purchase a painting by William Scott - a local man, if not actually born in Ulster, at least raised and educated there, she played up the considerable fame he had just acquired as Britain’s highly acclaimed representative in the Venice Biennale of that year. However, despite his fame and the fact that one of his Venice paintings had immediately been purchased and donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York, she still felt it necessary to ask her colleagues at the Arts Council in England to include it in a travelling exhibition they were organizing of his work, so that by the time her trustees had a chance to view their new acquisition, they would have adjusted to its modernity. Her strategy paid off. While the painting was touring, Scott was commissioned to paint the biggest mural painting in Ireland at Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital, a great reassurance to her trustees. The purchase went on to raise the profile of contemporary art at the Ulster Museum to the level that under Anne Crookshank the collection there led the field in Ireland for buying good contemporary art.Blue and Whites was painted in 1964, just 6 years after the Ulster Museum’s purchase. In many respects, it can be seen as a continuation of the abstract formal language of the hospital mural but, perhaps more importantly, it connects Irish art directly to the greatest precursors of International Modernism. The irregular white rectangle that floats upon the square white ground pays a discreet homage to Malevich’s ground breaking ‘White on White’ in the early days of twentieth century modernism, while the luscious blue triangle thrusts itself outward towards the viewer, just as Franz Klein’s blue paintings had thrust themselves at Scott when he first encountered that artist’s work in New York a decade earlier. Anne Crookshank, who maintained her regard for him over the decades remarked that ‘He handles blue with the greatest skill and achieves superbly luminous passages.’ In this painting that is augmented by the textural impact of the paint itself, applied in thick downward strokes.The painting does exactly what Scott intended it to do; it presents a dialogue between the elements of painting itself, between the formal thrust of the blue triangle and the two levels of white ground from which it emerges, without recourse to any narrative or literary qualities. The drama of space, light, texture and colour are all manifested through the artist’s manipulation of them in a way that is coherent and self-contained, and utterly compelling. Scott was quoted as saying about his work that ‘what matters to me is the indefinable’. He achieves that in this painting through the elements of the medium itself, which in his use of them, offer more than the sum of their various parts. It is no surprise that the architect, Michael Scott, that guru of Modernism in Ireland was one of the owners of this work in its earlier life. Catherine MarshallOctober 2017

Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (1932-2016)Night Rider (2001)Acrylic on canvas, 152.5 x 213.5cm (60 x 84”)SignedProvenance: The Eamonn Mallie Collection, purchased directly from the artist.Exhibited: ‘Basil Blackshaw - Paintings 2000-2002’, The Ulster Museum, December 2002 - May 2003, Cat. No. 5; ‘Basil Blackshaw at 80’ Retrospective, The FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, May - October 2012, The RHA Gallery Dublin January - February 2013, The Gordon Gallery, march 2013, as part of the City of Culture.Literature: ‘Basil Blackshaw - Paintings 2000 - 2002’, Ulster Museum, illustrated p.22; Irish Arts Review Front Cover illustration, Winter 2002, inside article by Brian McAvera, picture illustrated again p.59; 'Basil Blackshaw’ by Eamonn Mallie, 2003, illustrated Plate 16, p.365; ‘Basil Blackshaw at 80’, FE Mc William Gallery,2012, Fig 25; 'Basil at 80', The Gordon Gallery, 2013, illustrated p.25.It was not uncommon for Basil Blackshaw to carry an image about in his head for over half a century.He was a consummate romantic, passionate about everything about which he was passionate - women, horses, dogs, markets people, edge of the town people, travellers, horse racing, boxing, cockfighting, 'rare characters,' the craic, politics, poetry, the countryside, giving to the poor and so on.Among his favourite 'Pictures' in the cinema were Westerns and he loved cowboy novels when he was young. Enter 'Night Rider' from Blackshaw's fantasy world. More often than not his images were of himself playing out his fantasy. He worked and owned horses all his life. Such is the control of the rider in 'Night Rider' here that we know Basil is in charge. 'Night Rider' fits into what would be his 'late period' - always returning to earlier themes and subjects but much more psychological in interpretation. The rider's eyes speak volumes about his character ... he emits danger signals. He is 'a down looking thief' who would not take prisoners. One senses a gun is but one hand movement away.What is remarkable about this work is Blackshaw's choice of colours. They convey a sense of menace. My recollection of Westerns way in the distant past is one of the sound of distant drums, the pounding of horses' hooves on sun drenched plains above deep river sunlit valleys. We are however dealing with Blackshaw here - the art delinquent - the re-maker of images seeking out the otherness of an event or happening. One can image the muscularity which the artist brought to this large painting. I can still see him stabbing the canvas with a lick of paint - retreating only to attack another area with the same brío. This was war on a canvas. Blackshaw often compared his picture making to boxing - throwing punches, stepping back, all the time ducking, diving and contorting his wiry frame in pursuit of his dream in paint. My own experience of sitting for my portrait bore testimony to this extraordinary ritual of picture making by Blackshaw. As to the presence of the large yellow cross-like mark to the left of the canvas - Blackshaw regularly explained to me the composition needed that mark to give the work balance. The painting wouldn't be right without that mark he protested. Blackshaw's Spanish contemporary - Tapiès regularly uses a cross-mark too, in his oeuvre. I can't help thinking that that 'cross' notation invokes the notion of death. Blackshaw unashamedly claimed I steal ideas from good artists and bad artists but what you do with the theft is what matters. He asked me to establish if it would be possible to get a look at a large collection of Lucian Freuds on this island. I managed to arrange this. Observing Blackshaw scrutinising the Freuds was instructive. I thought he was going to lick the canvasses. He appeared to be in a trance, his eyes fixed on every square inch of the paintings. A year or two after the execution of 'Night Rider' Blackshaw told me do you see that grey triangle of paint on the side of the horse's neck - I stole that idea from one of Freud's paintings that morning you took me to see the works. It was what he did with the theft that mattered. It helped him resolve a problem. Eamonn Mallie

Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958)A Kerry Lake, Dingle PeninsulaOil on canvas, 35.5 x 40.5cm (14 x 16)Signed; inscribed with title versoProvenance: Acquired directly from the artist, thought to have been a gift, by Dr Robert Donnelly who was the Doctor on Achill and thence by family descent - never before been on the market.Paul liked the Dingle Peninsula and was always happy there. 'It is lovely. Wherever one turns there is material for dozens of pictures', he wrote to James Healy, his dealer in America. He explored the whole area (Mabel, his second wife, had a motor car) which reminded him of Cape Cod, 'very lonely & wild but not very paintable...nicer at a distance', he ventured to Healy. But he made numerous sketches which later, in the studio, were turned into paintings. This painting may have been made from one of those sketches. The painting has never been offered for sale before.'A Kerry Lake, Dingle Peninsula' is numbered 1333 in S.B. Kennedy's on-going Catalogue Raisonné of Paul Henry's work.

Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)By Merrion Strand (1929)Oil on canvas, 35.5 x 53cm (14 x 21'')SignedProvenance: From the collection of Richard McGonigal SC who purchased it at The Contemporary Picture Galleries, 1940; Later in the collection of Aer Lingus, purchased circa 1965 and their sale, Dublin, November 2001, where purchased by current owners.Exhibited: ‘Jack B. Yeats’, The Alpine Club Gallery, London, February 1929, Cat. No. 15; ‘Jack B. Yeats’, Engineers Hall, Dublin, October 1929, Cat. No. 13; ‘Jack B. Yeats’, Contemporary Picture Galleries, Dublin, October - November 1940, Cat. No. 6; ‘Jack B. Yeats National Loan Exhibition’, NCAD Dublin June - July 1945, Cat. No. 70; ‘Jack B. Yeats’, Waddington Galleries, London, February - March 1965, Cat. No. 7; ‘Irish Art 1900 - 1950”, ROSC Chorcaí, The Crawford Gallery, Cork, December 1975 - January 1976, Cat. No. 155; ‘Jack B. Yeats’, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin, June - October 1988, Cat. No. 60 (Label verso); ‘Art Inc Exhibition of Art from Corporate Collections’, Cothú Guinness Hop Store, Dublin, April - May 1991, Cat. No. 6.By Merrion Strand is a wonderfully freshly coloured work painted in the late 1920s in the period in which Jack Yeats was moving into his later more expressionist style of painting. It depicts a young woman standing at a stall with a view of Dublin bay behind her. The purple of the Wicklow mountains, possibly the Sugar Loaf, can be deciphered beyond her left shoulder. On her right another woman sits on a wooden deck-chair with a large bouquet of flowers in her arms. The two figures are women who have come to sell flowers and fruit to the pleasure seekers and holiday makers who flocked to beach at this time. The outline of several of these day trippers can be deciphered on the sand and in the waters behind. Some stride across the blue of the sea, a reference to the nature of the current at Merrion strand which is notable for its expanses of shallow waters at low tide. The subject of working class women recurs in many of Yeats’s paintings of the 1920s revealing both a sentimental and sympathetic interest in them. Among the most notable are Paper Bags for Hats (1925, Private Collection) and Flower Girl, Dublin (1926, National Gallery of Ireland). Like By Merrion Strand these bring some of the most impoverished and overlooked citizens of Dublin into focus. The composition of the woman silhouetted against the sea and sky is also very similar to that of By Drumcliffe, Long Ago, (1923, Private Collection), a work that is based on a memory of County Sligo. The pale blues and touches of white and yellow in the work produce the effect of sunlight on a bright summer’s day. The white of the central figure’s arms and neck compared to the darker tones of her face subtly suggest the demarcation of her tan line. This intimates that this is one of the first hot days of the year. As in Yeats’s other late work the loose application of paint evokes movement of light, air and the figures most notably in the stall holder herself whose head is turned to look back towards the viewer’s space. The painting was included in an important one-man exhibition of Yeats’s work in 1940, the first solo exhibition of his work at the Contemporary Picture Galleries in Dublin. It was bought at this show by Richard MacGonigal, a notable collector of his work. The exhibition encouraged the development of Yeats’s reputation as one of Ireland’s foremost modern artists leading to his adoption by Victor Waddington during the war years, in whose gallery Yeats’s status continued to flourish. Dr. Róisín Kennedy

Sarah Purser HRHA (1848-1943)Portrait of a Young Girl with FlowerOil on canvas, 35 x 25cm (13¾ x 9¾'')SignedThis appears to be the same model who featured on the front cover of Adam's Sarah Purser sale catalogue, December 2006, 'Young Girl with Daisy'.

Estella Frances Solomons HRHA (1882-1968)On Parole, 1920Oil on canvas, 52 x 44cmSigned with initials and inscribed with title Exhibited: 'Estella Solomons Retrospective' Exhibition, The Crawford Gallery, Cork May/June 1986, Cat. No. 87 - illustrated in the catalogue; 'Estella Solomons Exhibition', The Frederick Gallery, November 1999, Cat. No. 48, where purchased by PJ and Breda Mara - illustrated in the catalogue. Breda Mara was a regular and welcome visitor to The Frederick Gallery on route to her special dress maker Richard Lewis whose salon was next door. This is a rare survivor of many portraits that Estella Solomons painted of the insurgents on the run who used her studio on Great Brunswick Street as a 'Safe House'. Most of the others had to be destroyed as they would identify and betray the whereabouts of the sitters. Estella was a member of Cumann na mBan where she was well versed in signalling and prepared for administering first aid during the rising and hiding arms in her parents’ garden. She was at the centre of a Dublin swaying on a political precipice. Her husband, Seamus O'Sullivan later writing in 'The Rose and bottle and other essays' described her studio as a place of refuge for many whose political and national activities had brought them a very undesirable amount of notice in 'the bad times'. Our thanks to Hilary Pyle whose writings on the artist formed the basis for this catalogue entry.

3-piece silver tea set, of cushion shape on 4 bun feet, plain with inscription cartouche to each piece, engraved 'Present from the owners of the Brig Carricks of Carlisle to Capt. Jos. Bushby, 1816.' Teapot with hinged lid, acanthus leaf two handled sugar basin, and single handled milk jug, pie crust borders, silver gilt interiors, length of teapot 29cm, hallmarks for London, 1816, height 14cm, gross weight 41.25 ozt. Provenance: Diary entry believed to be about the Ship Captain, Jos. Bushby, from 'The Carlisle Patriot' dated 1819: On Thursday last, was launched from the yard of Mesrs. [sic] KELSICK, WOOD, & Co. a fine new copper-bottomed brig, called the John Syme, burthen 285 tons, built for Capt. Jos. BUSHBY, who has been very successful in the Carricks, of Port Carlisle. Notwithstanding the wetness of the day, an immense number of persons were present to witness the launch. Digitized information from the Montreal Gazette listing arrivals at the Port of Quebec shows a 'brig Carricks' arriving on May 31st from Liverpool after a 41-day voyage, mastered by 'Bushby.' We believe this was a cargo ship, regularly making trips to and from Canada. For condition report please see the catalogue at www.peterwilson.co.uk

GEORGE BARRETT SENIOR R.A. (IRISH, 1730-1784) WOODLAND LANDSCAPE WITH PEASANTS MAKING HAY Oil on canvas 63.5cm x 76cm (25in x 30in) Note: George Barratt was one of the most distinguished landscape artists of the 18th century, and certainly among the most successful of his peers. The exact date of his birth is disputed, but Barratt was born in Ireland c.1728-32, the son of a clothier. He learnt his craft in Dublin, and developed the initial contacts that would set him in good stead for the rest of his career. Perhaps the most influential of these early relationships was his close friendship with Edmund Burke who was at that point studying at Trinity College. Burke became a prominent political theorist and philosopher, but is known in art historical circles for his 1757 publication 'A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful', a treatise on aesthetics that was to have a wide influence; articulating the transition from the Neo-Classical to the Romantic era. The influence of Burke's thinking can be detected in some of Barret's paintings, which had a greater tendency towards wild and natural landscapes than many of his contemporaries. Upon moving to London in 1762, Barratt found rapid success and was supported by various prominent patrons, including the Duke of Portland, the Duke of Buccleuch, and the Earl of Albermarle. In an era that saw many members of the gentry acquiring or designing new estates, Barratt saw himself well-placed to assist with their decoration, and had a handsome income relative to many of his peers as a result. Barratt, described as 'well-informed, an enthusiast in his art, and a delightful companion,' was also an influential figure in artistic circles. In 1768 a rift developed in the Society of Artists of Great Britain. A faction led by Sir William Chambers, at the suggestion of Barret, petitioned the King for the foundation of the Royal Academy. Barret is mentioned as a nominated member in the foundation document, and appears in Zoffany's picture of 'The Royal Academy in 1773,' now in the Royal collection. Though it would appear that Barratt never travelled to Italy, he was very well versed in the British countryside, and his subject matter featured landscapes as diverse as Wales, the Isle of Wight, and Scotland. Landscapes made up to over a third of his known output. Despite his significant commercial success, Barratt was apparently "feckless" with money, and found himself in difficulties in the latter years of his life. On Burke's recommendation he obtained the appointment of master painter of Chelsea Hospital, a post he held until his death in 1784. At the time of his death his widow and children were left destitute, but the Royal Academy granted her a pension of thirty pounds a year.

SIMON DUBOIS (FLEMISH, 1632-1706) PORTRAIT OF AERNOUTT VAN CITTERS Signed, bears inscription and coats of arms on reverse, oil on canvas 37cm x 31cm (14.5in x 12in) Provenance: Contents of a Belgravia Apartment Inscription: ‘d'hr: Aernout van Citters. Collonel van een regement infanterij Comandeur van Sas van gent geb tot middelb 25 maart 1661. gest Jul 1718. 5’ Note: Simon Dubois was born in Antwerp in 1632, and from 1646 to 1653 lived in Haarlem where he was a pupil of both van Berchem and Wouwermans, learning his trade painting bucolic pastoral landscapes. In 1653, aged 21, he moved to Rotterdam and began a career as a painter of small battle-scenes in the Italian fashion. By 1657 we know that he was painting in Venice but four years later in 1661 he is known to have been back in Rotterdam and in 1667 in Rome, painted a celebrated portrait of Pope Alexander VII in the year of his death. Thereafter Dubois pursued a successful career making copies of Old Masters and in 1680 moved to England, where he found patronage from supporters of the Prince of Orange including Sir William Jones (Dulwich Picture Gallery). His breakthrough came with the full length portrait of William III's Lord Chancellor, John Somers, one of the key figures in the Glorious Revolution, now at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire. Dubois lived in London's Covent Garden with his brother Edward, who was also a painter. Simon's portrait painting continued to find favour with the great and the good of King William's court, sitters including the 1st Marquis of Normandy and Sir Thomas Vernon of Hanbury Hall. The present sitter Aernoutt van Citters (1661-1718), was Colonel of a regiment of infantry and Commander of the town of Sas van Ghent. His father, also Aernoutt van Citters (1633-1696) had been Ambassador to the English court from 1680 to 1694, and the family had lived in Zeeland since 1585. An unsigned version of this portrait, numbered 5 and of similar dimensions, acquired in 1876, hangs in the Rijksmuseum. Similarly, on the reverse, it bears the family coat of arms and those of eight ancestors. Dubois is known to have painted other members of the van Citters family. His portrait of Ermerantia van Citters (1666-1694) painted in 1693 is also in the Rijksmuseum, numbered 7 as are those of her sisters Anna (1664-1694) numbered 6, Josina Clara (1671- 1753), numbered 8 and Johanna (1672-1740) numbered 9. Dubois also painted a well-known and engraved van Citters' father's fellow Williamite diplomat William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland. Consequently Dubois became a wealthy man and in 1707, by which time he was in his seventies, he married Sarah, the daughter of the painter William van de Velde the Younger, only to die just a year later in 1708.

EMMA CIARDI (ITALIAN, 1879-1933) THE MEETING Signed and dated 1912, oil on canvas 70cm x 59cm (27.5in x 23in) Exhibited: The Leicester Galleries 1913, no 17 Note: Emma Ciardi's work typifies the wistful spirit of a particularly poignant period in the history of European culture. Born in Venice in 1879 into a family of artists, Ciardi studied under her father, the distinguished Italian realist artist Guglielmo Ciardi, an associate of the proto-impressionist Macchiaoli painters, who specialized in views of the Venetian lagoon, Lombardy and the Veneto. In her late teens, along with her brother Beppe, she took up painting professionally and exhibited for the first time in 1900 at the age of 21 at both the Universal Exhibition in Paris and the Promotrice in Turin. Three years later Ciardi showed for the first time at the Venice International Exhibition, where she would subsequently exhibit regularly until 1932. In 1905 she won a gold cup at Munich, taking another at the 1915 San Francisco Exhibition, where she showed alongside her brother and her father. Ciardi's favoured subjects were the north Italian landscape and the great villas and gardens of her home town of Venice. Although in composition and subject matter her work was influenced principally by Guardi and Longhi, her technique was in a style of highly textured impressionism using a palette which recalled Whistler, Monet and John Singer Sargent. Gradually however, she came to specialise in the neo-18th-century genre scenes of which the two works now on offer provide fine examples. Venice, in the halcyon days of the Belle Epoque before the Great War, was a charmed place, drawing to its palazzo society the aristocracy and gilded youth of Great Britain, Europe and America. The city's magic was sustained by the novels of Edith Wharton and Henry James and in the work of such painters as Sickert, Mortimer Menpes, Frank Brangwyn, and William Merrit Chase. But above all it was Sargent who captured the spirit of the place, his numerous, highly commercial Venetian views possessing, as one reviewer remarked 'the intensity of a dream'. The same might be said of Ciardi's works of the time which, less academic, were also deliberately fanciful in their chocolate box evocation of an imagined Roccoco arcadia. Ciardi perfectly perpetuated the mood of hedonistic escapism, her romantic fetes galantes mirroring the vogue for 18th century costume balls typified by those thrown by city's Grand Dame, the flamboyantly eccentric aristocrat the Marchesa Luisa Casati. Their enormous popularity was demonstrated by the success of Ciardi's first solo exhibition in 1910 at London's celebrated Leicester Galleries, which was followed by a second there in 1913, at which both of these paintings were shown. After the Great War, as the lure of Venice once again offered an escape from the tragedy of the real world, Ciardi was again in the ascendant and, during the 1920s, she received great acclaim in the USA, with numerous shows at the Howard Young Gallery in New York. Further successful exhibitions were staged in London by the Fine Art Society in 1928 and 1933. Emma Ciardi died in Venice in 1933 and two years later was celebrated with a retrospective at the fortieth Venice Biennale.

Two glass tankards commemorating Canada's Edward "Ned" Hanlan's victory over Edward Trickett of N.S.W. Australia to become the World Sculling Champion on the 15th November 1880, English pressed glass by Henry Greener, featuring Hanlan rowing with a pair of crossed oars to either side of the handle, inscribed with details of the occasion within an arc above the image, height 11cm, These mugs commemorate the skulls race on the River Thames from Putney to Mortlake for the World Championship title on 15th November 1880 in front of a crowd estimated to be 100,000 strong. The Australian Trickett had won the last three World Championship title races, but Hanlan, from Toronto, took the crown in 1880 and defended the title successfully on six consecutive occasions. His run of world domination finally came to an end in 1884 when he was beaten by Bill Beach who reclaimed the title for Australia.

A Swansea porcelain plate from the Burdett-Coutts service, possibly painted by James Turner, with a basket of flowers surrounded by smaller flowering plants growing from the ground around it, a gilded rococo band around the cavetto, within a white border containing two scattered insects and a gilt dentil rim, 21.6cm diam, impressed SWANSEA in upper case****The service belonged to Angela, Baroness Burdett-Coutts who died in 1907. It was sold at Christie's in 1922 when it was stated that it had been ordered by the banker Thomas Coutts from Mortlocks in 1816, in celebration of his marriage to the actress Harriet Mellon CONDITION REPORT: crazed, gilding rubbed, glaze imperrfections

THE ‘FILM WEEKLY’ AWARD, 1937: A BRONZE REPRESENTING TRAGEDY AND COMEDY, SIGNED ‘F.V.B’the rectangular base engraved with an inscription below the legend ‘THE FILM-WEEKLY AWARD,’ two naked female figures above, ebonized wood base30cm high overallThe inscription reads: ‘HERBERT WILCOX for the production and direction of VICTORIA THE GREAT Judged the best British film of 1937’Herbert Wilcox’s triumph with his film, Victoria the Great, was assured when it was awarded first-class honours at the 1937 International Film Exhibition in Venice and also received encouraging comments following preview showings in the United States. Its world premier, on 16 September 1937 at the newly-decorated Leicester Square Theatre, London, confirmed its success. The stars were Anna Neagle (who became Mrs Herbert Wilcox in 1943) as Queen Victoria and Anton Walbrook as Prince Albert.Another bronze of this model, the Film Weekly award for the best performance of 1938, which was given to Ralph Richardson for his portrayal of Robert Carne in the film South Riding, was sold in the Ralph Richardson Collection sale at Sotheby’s, London, 27 April 2001, lot 268.Provenance: The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (see the following lot and lots 344, 392-395 for further items with the same provenance.)

A SET OF EIGHT VICTORIAN SILVER TABLE FORKS, FRANCIS HIGGINS JUNIOR FOR THE PORTLAND CO. LTD., LONDON, 1860Kings Honeysuckle pattern, the terminals engraved with a crest766gr (24oz)(8)The short-lived Portland Co. Ltd. was the brainchild of Harry Emanuel (1830-1898), the retail jeweller and silversmith of 5 Hanover Square, who in 1856 filed a patent in London which covered improvements in the manufacture of spoons, forks, &c. Premises were acquired for the enterprise in Ridinghouse Street, Portland Place and the company registered in August 1859. One of the shareholders was Francis Higgins junior (1818-1908) who was appointed the company’s manager. By early 1861 Emanuel had sold his shares and Higgins moved the factory to Clapton Mills near Loudwater, Buckinghamshire. Although the Portland Co. Ltd., ‘Manufacturers of silver and electro-plated goods, by patent machinery,’ was represented at the International Exhibition of 1862, the company did not prosper. The remaining shareholders decided in March 1863 to wind-up the business and Higgins, who must have invested a great deal of time and effort on their behalf, declared himself bankrupt in December 1867. For further information, see John Culme, The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, Woodbridge, 1987, vol. I, p. 370.

ROYAL: A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER-GILT TEA TONGS (SUGAR NIPS), FRANCIS HARACHE, LONDON, CIRCA 1745cast with rocaille, one shell grip later engraved to the inside with the initial E below a princely coronet13cm longThe coronet is that of the son or daughter of the British sovereign.Provenance: Princess Elizabeth (1770-1840), the seventh child of George III, who married Prince Frederick VI of Hesse-Homburg in 1818. Dying without issue, some items from her estate went to her niece by marriage, Caroline of Hesse-Homburg (1819-1872), who married Prince Heinrich XX of Reuss zu Greiz. Thence by family descent.

A GEORGE V SILVER THREE-HANDLED TROPHY CUP, ADIE BROTHERS LTD., BIRMINGHAM, 1931knopped circular foot, the otherwise plain ovoid body inscribed on one side between three handles terminating in Art Deco motifs30.7cm high, 1574gr (50oz)The inscription reads: ‘Presented to W.N. Blake by The Cinema Veterans Dec. 7th 1931.’‘‘The Cinema Veterans’’, the men who were the pioneers of the cinematograph in Great Britain and who now number not more than one hundred and sixty, meeting this week at the Holborn Restaurant, London, used the occasion to present to their retiring Hon. Secretary, Mr. W.N. Blake, of Bedford, a very handsome solid silver loving cup, a silver tea service, and an illuminated address, in recognition of his services since the inception of their organization.’ (The Bedfordshire Times and Independent, Bedford, 11 December 1931, p.9)William Norman Blake (1870/71-1932), a native of Bedford and originally a photographer, became manager of the town’s Empire Cinema. In 1924 he was a founder member and first chairman of The Cinema Veterans (1903), which he and Sir William Jury and Arthur Cunningham, all senior members of the British Film Industry, had established following the death in 1921 of William Friese Green. The latter, an inventor and pioneer British film-maker, had died in abject poverty and through The Cinema Veterans it was Blake and his associates’ intention that nobody connected with the industry should die in such circumstances again. Provenance: The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (see lots 292, 293, 344, 392-395 for further items with the same provenance.)

A GEORGE III SILVER TEAPOT, NO MAKER’S MARK, PROBABLY EMES & BARNARD, LONDON, 1808circular, engraved to the plain girdle with coats of arms below a band of lobes25cm long, 628gr (20oz) including fibre handle and finialGiven the shape, plus the workmen’s mark (of a cross and dot) to the underside, this teapot may be reasonably firmly attributed to Emes & Barnard (or perhaps John Emes on his own, who was buried in the parish of St Giles Cripplegate 27 May 1808, aged 44).

A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER-GILT DWARF CANDLESTICKS, JOHN CAFE, LONDON, 1754cast shell sexafoil pattern, conforming nozzles, later flat-chased and matted with leafage and flowers16cm high, 851gr (27oz)Provenance (by family repute): Princess Elizabeth (1770-1840), the seventh child of George III, who married Prince Frederick VI of Hesse-Homburg in 1818. Dying without issue, some items from her estate went to her niece by marriage, Caroline of Hesse-Homburg (1819-1872), who married Prince Heinrich XX of Reuss zu Greiz. Thence by family descent.

A GEORGE II GOLD AND ENAMEL DOUBLE SCENT FLASK, MID 18TH CENTURYbifurcated baluster form, chased with rocaille scrolls and scattered with raised enamel flowers, chained bird-form stoppers, the base with carnelian matrix carved with a bird on a sprig below the motto ‘Fidelle’5.6cm highProvenance (by family repute): Princess Elizabeth (1770-1840), the seventh child of George III, who married Prince Frederick VI of Hesse-Homburg in 1818. Dying without issue, some items from her estate went to her niece by marriage, Caroline of Hesse-Homburg (1819-1872), who married Prince Heinrich XX of Reuss zu Greiz. Thence by family descent.

Local Interest - Photography - a 19th century photographer's shop display sign, applied with an albumen print of the Peacock Hotel, Rowsley, and inscribed Richard Keene's Derbyshire Views Sold Here, 29cm x 34.5cm Undoubtedly from Keene's shop at 24, Iron Gate Derby. Richard Keene (1825-1894) was a pioneer Victorian photographer who learnt his 'art-science' as he called it from Revd Edward Abney a local priest and close collaborator of W H Fox Talbot, who was married to Abney's cousin Constance Mundy. Keene was a very accomplished topographical photographer whose first datable image was taken in autumn 1853.

Local Interest - Railway/Engineering - a Victorian leather accounts ledger, for the Alfreton Iron Works, inscribed in ink MS from December 31st 1868 to December 31st 1919 (388 of its numbered 744 pages), including work for the construction of St. Pancras Station, London, overclad period calf, gilt-embossed red leather title label to front, Barras & Co, Stationers, Sheffield & Rotherham, label to front marbled pastedown, MS letters enclosed, folio The Alfreton Iron Works, this was founded by three Derby grandees, William Edwards (attorney), Mr. Saxelbye and Richard Forester Forester of Abbott's Hill House (surgeon) who bought the manorial estate of Riddings from the Rolleston family for the iron bearing shales beneath the sod. In 1800 they founded the works, hiring Derby pub landlord's son James Oakes as manager. He took on as Scottish person called David Mushet (1772-1847) to help him and Mushet vastly improved the processes so that in 1806 the firm was making almost as much pig iron from one Mushet-modified blast furnace than the hallowed Butterley Company was making with two. By 1861, they were running, as James Oakes & Co., three blast furnaces. Oakes built Riddings House c. 1819 where his descendants lived until c. 1990, and also ran coal mines at Somercotes where OPakes and Lyon (later 1st Lord) Playfair first identified oil shale and successfully fracked it. The St. Pancras roof of 1867 was designed by Derby based MR Engineer William Henry Barlow and made by the Butterley Company, whose manufacturer's plates are clearly visible of the main bearers there. Presumably from the ledger entry Jas. Oakes & Co. probably supplied the pig iron,from which the Butterley Company subsequently made the roof, The roof itself was in its day the widest free span of girder roof (at 240ft) in the world, and it apparently weighs 6,898 tons and covers 4.5 acres. The Riddings Iron Works (alias the Alfreton Iron Company), trading as James Oakes & Co. was sold to Stanton Ironworks in 1920 and closed as a result of the General Strike of 1926, although it was later revived as a forge and went to Stewarts & Lloyds before being nationalised and eventually closed completely.

An early 19th century Anglo-Scottish lady's commonplace book, compiled and curated by Maria Duff, inscribed with various MSS, including select passages of Lord Byron's oeuvres, further Romantic verse, prose and maxims, select passages and original compositions, unusual early Shakespearean cartoon of stick figures: Shakespeare Illustrated, Nos. 1 and 2, 1822, illustrated with contemporaneous engravings, etchings and chromolithographs, comprising some caricatures, portraits, Picturesque British topography and sentimental scenes, one page with dried foliage specimen, embossed paper fancies and further amusements, recto of blue endpaper applied with a rectangular paper framed embossed by Dobbs with roses and thistles and inscribed in ink MS with verse on the pleasures and tribulations of life, the verso of the endpaper inscribed MHS to Maria Duff, August 1822, within a cut pink paper garland of flowers and laurels, later presentation inscription, full Regency oxblood morocco binding, gilt-embossed with foliate fillet and tendrils, Gothick tracery, the spine with alternating foliate bosses within raised bands, gilt-edged leaves, tall 4toProvenance: almost certainly the same Maria Duff (b. 1796), daughter of Maj.-Gen. Patrick "Tiger" Duff of Carnousie, who married Francis Garden-Campbell, 7th of Troup and of Glenlyon (1793-1826) on September 25th 1822 at St Marylebone, London. The date of 1822 at the beginning of her commonplace book could very well indicate that the volume was a gift and companion for her on reaching the maturity of a wife and leaving girlhood behind. A year after her widowhood the then Mrs. Maria Garden-Campbell married, as her second husband, James Ramsay (b. 1797), the second son of John and Mary Ramsay of Barra, at Westminster on August 13th 1827.

Medals, WW1, 1914-15 Star, the card plaque inscribed Awarded to SPR W. Wragg, 1914-1918 War [...] Presented to Mrs John Taylor, wife of a Police Officer Who died needlessly, ~ From an anonymous friend. Lest we forget, framed, condolence card en suite, 29cm x 23cm overall; WW1 khaki armband, On War Service 1915 badge; WW1, British War Medal 1914-1918, named to 57675 Pte. P. Micklewright, Lancashire Fusiliers; WW2, 1939-1945 Defence Medal, American Victory Medal 1941-1945; USSR, Soviet Jubilee Medal 1945-1965; Freemasonry, Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution, awarded to Bro. E.E. Graham, Served As Steward To The R.M.I.B. 1946 - 1960, silver gilt band, gilt-metal and enamel bar clasp, ribbon (qty)

Medals, WW1, Local Interest, pair, British War, 1914-1918 and Allied Victory medals, named to 28740 Pte. W. Corless Notts & Derby. R [Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment]; another pair, named to T-37765 Dvr. B. Corless A.S.C [Army Service Corps], original ribbons; Allied Victory Medal, named to 54263 Pte. D. Corless R. War. R [Royal Warwickshire Regiment] The brothers William (1893-1916) and Daniel (1900-17/18?) were born in Winster, Derbyshire, to John Corless and his wife Annie (née Sweeney). 2874 Private William Corless and was killed-in-action serving with the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment. The Derbyshire Courier, Tuesday, 24th April 1917 reported, "Mr. and Mrs. John Corless parents of Private William Corless, Sherwood Foresters who has been missing since June [1916] received a letter stating that their son died on 4 June [1916] or since. Before joining the colours he worked for Mr. Walton, Darley Mill. He was 23 years of age. His three brothers. Bernard, Frank and Fred, are all fighting for their country". As the April 1917 article makes no reference to Daniel being an enlisted soldier one presumes he 'joined-up' in late 1917 or 1918 and presumably in the Sherwood Foresters, too. The two brothers are remembered in two memorial plaques at Winster Parish Church.

1897 Two stampless newspaper wrappers addressed to R A de Villard who was instrumental in reorganising the Imperial Post Office at this time, both bear 'CUSTOMS/SHANGHAI' cds, for Mar 31 or Apr 2 1897, also Shanghai Local Post cds, but these poorly struck, as a senior I.P.O. official de Villard would have been entitled to have his mail carried without charge

Incoming Mail: 1897 April 20 registered cover from Tokyo to Shanghai, franked on reverse Japan1s, 2s, 4s (3) tied by Japanese language cds in brown, with TOKIO/I.J.P.O. cds alongside for 20 APR 97 and SHANGHAI/I.J.P.O. cds for 27 AP 97, face bears additional TOKIO cds and KOBE transit for 21 APR 97, some toning and substantial (c80mm) tear affecting front, however the addressee is R A de Villard who was largely responsible for reorganising the Chinese post office in 1897

An interesting group of five medals to Victor George Alma Seager, R.N.V.R., who served with Carnac Battery of the Royal Naval Siege Guns near Nieuport: British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal (L.Z.4610 V. G. A. SEAGER. A.B. R.N.V.R.); Defence Medal; Special Constabulary Long Service Medal, George VI (VICTOR G. SEAGER); French Croix de Guerre, with bronze star; together with a small quantity of ephemera and research, including a XVth Corps card signed by General Du Cane citing the recipient's 'Good and Valuable Service and Devotion to Duty', two similar cards from 36th Army Group Artillery Lourde (French Heavy Artillery), and a collection of photographs including the recipient in uniform wearing his Croix De Guerre, and studies of the Naval gun emplacements in Belgium. Medals good very fine or better. During the Great War the Royal Navy - specifically the Dover Patrol - established heavy artillery positions at the Northern extremity of the Western Front. Working closely with the French, and at times under their control, the officers and men of the Royal Naval Siege Guns fought a gruelling campaign under intense and sustained bombardments and gas attacks. Carnac battery was particularly celebrated for its endurance and effectiveness, being cited in French Army Corps orders. The recipient himself appears to have made a significant contribution to this, being the specific subject of a similar order for "readiness and calmness under fire" and receiving the Croix De Guerre; and he was furthermore commended by the British Army after they had taken over his part of the line.

The Second World War Bomber Command casualty group to Pilot Officer Donald Edwin Gardener, R.A.F.V.R., who died on the 13th August 1940: 1939-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star, Defence Medal, British War Medal 1939-45; with postal box, transmission slip, and his commission as Pilot Officer dated 26th April 1940; together with a Victory Medal to an assumed older relative (144320 GNR. E.H. GARDENER. R.A.), with associated documents. Donald Gardener died while serving with 61 Squadron R.A.F. He is commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial. The details of his death have not been traced, but it is of interest to note that the 13th August 1940, known to the Germans as 'Adlertag' was the first day of the main German assault in their attempt against British Air dominance which was to become known as the Battle of Britain.

A fine 19th Century British Naval presentation sword, 'PRESENTED BY THE SEAMEN OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP EURYALUS TO LIEUNT CHARLES PEAKE; AS A TOKEN OF THEIR ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE: XXVIIITH AUGST MDCCCXXI', curved hatchet point blade 32 in., etched along its entire length with naval and martial motifs, a crowned garter, Neptune, the allegorical figure of Hope, and the dedication, all amid foliate scrolls; gilt copper stirrup hilt with lion head pommel, triangular langets with swagged and tied edges and displaying the stern of a ship in relief, border engraved cross piece with scrolling acanthus terminal, ornate knuckle bow in the form of winged Victory, wire bound horn grip; part scabbard of black leather with heavy gilt copper mounts: the locket and band well engraved with scrolls and arms against a seeded ground, each set with an oval medallion depicting Hope (locket) and Hercules fighting the Nemean Lion (band), and each with a suspension bracket in the form of a writhing dolphin (retaining the swivel clips from the belt, lower part of scabbard missing). The presentation of this sword in 1821 (together with a silver vase) is recorded by O'Byrne, who notes that Peake "commanded the Euryalus for a short period". He had previously taken part in a number of actions including cutting out operations and the taking of prizes. Reference: William O'Byrne, 'Naval Biographical Dictionary Vol 2'

A Victorian Rifle Volunteer officer's sword, regulation fullered blade etched with VR cypher and stringed bugle, steel 'gothic' hilt, steel scabbard, black sword bag. The sword of Henry Foulkes Kingdon, who was an expert in Marine Insurance and advised the government on such matters duiring the Great War. His obituary records that he has a 'keen volunteer', and he belonged also to the Victoria Rifles Lodge.

The historic peacock cap feather of Ye Mingchen, governor of Guangdong during the early stages of the 2nd Anglo-Chinese war (the 2nd Opium War), taken as a trophy by Captain (later First Sea Lord) Astley Cooper-Key, following Ye's capture in January 1858. Ye Mingchen was the Chinese governor of Canton who devoted himself to resisting British mercantile and naval aggression, and in so doing became the focus of their ire and a target for retribution by British Consul Harry Parkes. Captain Cooper-Key was the talented officer who accompanied Parkes in his search for the Governor, and who personally caught and restrained him after the Consul had been deceived by a decoy. In 1856 Guangdong (Canton) was one of five Chinese ports through which, under the terms of the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, the British were allowed limited commercial access to China. Signed against the background of British aggression and their iniquitous trade in opium, the term of the treaty were ongoing source of offence to the Chinese. For their part the British were dissatisfied with the limited nature of the concessions that had been made to them, and a pretext for further violence was soon found in the 'Arrow Incident' of 1856, in which a vessel with a spurious claim to British registration was seized by the Chinese. The initial focus for hostilities was Canton, which the British approached from their base in Hong Kong. Here they were opposed by Ye Mingchen. In December 1857 a concerted effort to take the city by a combined force of British and French sailors and soldiers met with success. Captain Cooper-Key of H.M.S. Sans Pareil went ashore to command part of the naval brigade in the assault. His men, though initially delayed, scaled the 30 foot high walls under fire, and later accompanied Admiral Sir Michael Seymour on a circuit of the ramparts, disabling the Chinese guns. The capture of their adversary Ye Mingchen was a priority for the British, and Cooper-Key, with 100 men, accompanied the British Consul Harry Parkes on a hunt through the labyrinthine streets. Arriving at a palace, Parkes initially accepted the surrender of a man claiming to be Ye, before Cooper-Key found the real governor attempting to escape, and personally apprehended him with the assistance of his Coxwain. The feather was preserved in his family with a note indicating that it had been taken from Mingchen's own cap. References: Vice Admiral P. H. Colomb, 'Memoirs of Admiral the Right Honbl Sir Astley Cooper Key' Hanes and Sanello, 'The Opium Wars, The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another'

A bound set of midshipman's logs kept by the future Admiral Sir Richard Henry Peirse, K.C.B., K.B.E., M.V.O., D.L., between August 6th 1875 and October 15th 1879, in Her Majesty's Ships Minotaur, Charybdis and Juno; together with a Victorian Indian Army wallet or journal cover, in brown leather and bearing the badge of the 1st Light Cavalry in silver. [2] Richard Henry Peirse was a highly accomplished naval officer who served with distinction in the Great War. He is celebrated for his deft prosecution of the Naval bombardment of Smyrna in 1915. He is also notable for having been the father of future Air Chief Marshall Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse, who's D.S.O. came as a result of his dashing role in the air attack on Dunkirk in the same year.

Of Royal Naval interest: an album of World War Two press photographs, various subjects including aerial attacks on U-boats, convoy vessels, capital ships in action, ratings serving the weapons of various vessels, and the destruction of enemy ships; mainly slip mounted in the album and most accompanied by typed captions on pasted-in slips of paper, some photographs with annotations and one signed by one of the subjects (L.S. Frank Wood, who helped to destroy a JU.88 with fire from H.M.T. Lovania); album cover with title 'Ships of the Royal Navy by H. Symonds & Co. Portsmouth'.

The Wiltshire Regiment: the dress uniform tunic attributable to Captain Gordon Stewart Browne of the 1st Battalion, who died of wounds, 27th November 1914; scarlet tunic with buff facings and cross pattee collar dogs, Lieutenant's insignia. Gazetted to the Regiment September 1909; Lieutenant January 1911; wounded on the 4th day of the retreat from Mons; further wounded at Ypres 17th November, from the effect of which he later died at the Allied Forces Base Hospital, Boulogne; promoted captain after his death; mentioned in Sir John French's Despatch of 14th January 1915, for gallant and Distinguished services in the field. According to a letter to his father (which led to his Mention in Despatches), "..I was lucky enough to obtain the services of your son as staff officer....[he] did yeoman service during those few days....[and] throughout the very trying period which followed, it was easy to see what sterling stuff he was made of....Your son's gallant behaviour will live long in the memory of others.....and I considered it my duty to bring to the official notice of our Brigadier the very splendid way in which he had performed his duties during those strenuous days near Ypres." Reference: 'The Bond of Sacrifice, A Biographical Record of all British Officers who Fell in the Great War'

The historic 'Operation Nimrod' group of medals and memorabilia to Warrant Officer 2nd Class Ian 'Chalky' White, Special Air Service and 17th/21st Lancers, who formed part of the team of S.A.S. men who stormed the Iranian Embassy in London on May 5th 1980 in a swift and decisive action that resolved a major hostage crisis. The Medals: General Service 1962-2007, clasp: Northern Ireland (24215027 TPR I.P. WHITE 17/21L.); South Atlantic, with rosette (24215027 CPL I P WHITE 17/21L (SAS)); Regular Army Long Service and Good Conduct, Elizabeth II (24215027 WO2 I P WHITE 17/21L); court mounted, nearly extremely fine. Accompanied by: the recipient's stable belt, blue with chromed buckle bearing the SAS badge; a copy of Ihis discharge certificate and other documents; a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, 3rd model, blade etched with the Wilkinson brand, regulation leather scabbard, acquired by the recipient from stores on the Falkland Islands; after David Shepherd, '16 Princes Gate', a print depicting the descent of the Embassy stairs, number 38 of 850, bearing artist's pencil signature; after John Tidewell, 'Princes Gate, The Back Door'; a collection of press photographs of the raid depicting SAS members preparing to enter the embassy at various points; floor plans of the embassy; 'Now' magazine complimentary copy 'Britain's Arab Terror - The Killers In Our Midst', May 9-15 1980; Daily Express Special Edition: 'The Day of the S.A.S.'; and various press cuttings and related ephemera. The persecution of the Arab population of Iran's Khuzestan region by Ayatollah Khomeini (and his predecessors the Shahs) had inspired an implacable resistance movement which received support from Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The Arabs themselves were concerned with political and social rights. Hussein exploited this fact to manoeuvre against his rival the Ayatollah. Specifically, he believed that an attack staged in the West would draw attention to the plight of Khuzestan, and allow him to garner international approval for his planned invasion of Iran. With Iraqi backing, a six man team, the 'Group of the Martyr', occupied the Embassy on the 30th April, taking 26 people hostage. The response was initially led by the police, but the S.A.S. acted immediately by deploying a team to the area in case their intervention was requested by the civil authorities. While they waited, they evolved a plan, and when, on the sixth day, a hostage was shot and his body thrown out of the embassy, the men of the Special Air Service went into action under the gaze of the television media. Within 17 minutes, the siege was at an end. Ian White was part of the team that entered the embassy from the roof. An explosive charge was lowered into a light well in the centre of the building and detonated as a distraction, and White's team abseiled into the lightwell to gain access through a window. During the descent, his secondary weapon, a Browning 9mm pistol, was lost owing to the notoriously poor quality holster with which the men were equipped. Nothing daunted, he continued from room to room, clearing each with 'flashbangs' and techniques perfected through rigorous training. He almost met with disaster while descending to a lower floor, as another team approaching the foot of his staircase directed sub-machinegun fire along the corridor into which he was about to step. He next encountered the well documented fire that had broken out owing to many of the curtains and carpets having been impregnated with accelerants. By sheer coincidence he had just completed a firefighting course, with the aim of posing undercover as an airport fireman, and this assisted him in temporarily controlling the blaze together with a colleague. The evacuation of the hostages involved forming a human chain to pass each one down the main staircase and out of the building to safety. White stood at the top of the chain, and such was the urgency of the situation that he resorted, effectively, to throwing them down the stairs. One of the terrorists concealed himself among the hostages, and because of the speed at which the S.A.S. were working that he was thrown down along with the rest of them. White saw in his hand a grenade, and, unable to shoot down the stairs for fear of hitting a hostage, he and others shouted a warning to their colleagues below, who killed the terrorist before he could use it. All but one of the hostages alive at the start of the operation were rescued, and five of the six terrorists were killed - the sixth being captured. The team next had the chance to watch the news footage of their work. They did so in the company of the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, for whom the operation had been a considerable publicity coup, foreshadowing her popular aggressive stance over the Falkland Islands (where White was also to be deployed), and demonstrating to the world that Britain was not the soft target that Saddam Hussein had imagined. Their work done, they returned to Hereford at high speed, and the rapidity and decisive efficiency of the S.A.S. action is underscored by the fact that when White arrived home his wife suffered an adverse reaction to the residue from the 'flashbangs' that he had been using, which lingered on his clothing. The embassy siege is well known, and rightly celebrated, as the point at which the S.A.S. became famous. Since its genesis during the Second World War it had maintained a low public profile, consistent with the discrete and sometimes clandestine nature of its methods. In May 1980 it sprang from obscurity onto the television screens and made an indelible impression on the public mind. But these events are important for other reasons. It was a notable tactical success, and in spite of what the modesty of White and others would suggest, this was by no means a foregone conclusion. Counter terrorism was an emerging form of warfare, and the success of Operation Nimrod was in contrast to a certain near-contemporary actions which had ended very badly. It is revealing to note the various mishaps that occurred, some of which affected White directly; because none of them influenced the outcome of the mission. Problems that could have resulted in failure were nullified by the professionalism of the S.A.S. It also confirmed, emphatically, the relevance of the S.A.S. in the post-war era. Prior to Operation Nimrod this had been called into doubt, and the regiment was threatened by budget cuts, and possible disbandment. After Nimrod its value was beyond dispute, and it future was secured. The recipient participated in the seminal S.A.S. action of the post war years, a major milestone in the history of the regiment - and of special forces more generally - making this group a truly historic acquisition for the collector.

A French faience blue and white armorial dish, probably Moustiers, late 17th or 18th century, the centre painted with an armorial within Berainesque band borders, 40.5cm diameter Note: The shield and coronet of DURFORT, Ducs de Lorges, of Guyenne who were created Ducs de Lorges in 1691 and 1775 and Ducs de Civrac in 1774. Ref: Rietstap J.B. (1884) ARMORIAL GENERAL p.579, col. 2. Note: Guy Aldonce de Durfort, duc de Lorges (1630-1702) was a marshal of France in Louis XIV's army. In the War of the Grand Alliance, he commanded the French army in Germany from 1690-95. The eldest daughter of his marriage to Gabrielle de Fremont married the famous diarist of Louis XIV's reign, the duc de Saint-Simon and according to the latter, the marshal died from a bungled operation to remove a kidney stone at the hands of an inexperienced surgeon.

A George III mahogany and patinated metal mounted oval wine cooler, circa 1775, with gadroon carved rim and outset terminals hung with laurel cast patinated metal mounts above patera motifs, above square section fluted tapering legs terminating in brass caps and casters, 54cm high, 71cm wide, 54cm deep The decorative motifs used in the design of this wine cooler, including the use of husks, fluting and the type of patera are all characteristic features used by the well known cabinet makers Mayhew and Ince. A wine cooler of very closely related design but white painted and with ormolu mounts throughout, was offered by Ronald Phillips . The mounts on the example at Ronald Phillips were said to be attributable to Diedrich Anderson who supplied high quality mounts to Mayhew and Ince. The mounts used for the current example being offered are not gilded but are cast with the same motifs and to very similar proportions. Please note revised estimates are £2000 - £3000  

Two Wedgwood black basalt copies of the Portland or Barberini vase , late 19th century, typically sprigged in white with classical figures after the original Roman cameo glass vase in the British Museum, impressed WEDGWOOD , 26cm & 26.5cm high N.B. See accompanying letter from the Wedgwood Museum where they speculate that the vase with a small cut dash in the body next to the Wedgwood stamp could indicate the work of Thomas Lovatt who worked at Wedgwood from 1851 untill the early 20th century. The original Roman cameo glass vase was bought by Sir William Hamilton, Envoy Extraordinary to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from a dealer who had purchased it from the Barberini family who had owned it since the 17th century and in 1784 Hamilton sold it to the Dowager Duchess of Portland. The 3rd Duke lent it to Josiah Wedgwood to copy, who after four years of painstaking trials put the first example on display in 1790. There are two scenes about the vase with various interpretations including the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Ariadne languishing on Naxos amongst several. The base with a figure wearing a Phrygian cap, possibly Paris. One the original vase, this disc was thought to have been added to cover an earlier break and is probably not original to it.

A Regency fiddleback mahogany and gilt metal mounted secretaire cabinet, circa 1815, in the manner of George Bullock, the central section with a pair of glass panelled doors opening to shelves, flanked on each side by a cupboard door with inset gilt metal grille panel and flanked by pilasters, the lower section with a central fall front drawer opening to a tooled leather inset, small drawers and pigeon holes, flanked by two further drawers and above four cupboard doors, on turned feet, 200cm high, 155cm wide, 58cm deep For a cabinet demonstrating a closely related overall design and several similar specific design features, see Sotheby s Important English and European Decorative Arts, New York, Lot 339 (22,500 usd) A related design for a cabinet which shares a very similar form of pediment and brass grille panels is published in Richard Brown's The Rudiments of Drawing Cabinet and Upholstery Furniture, 1822, pl. XVIII. Brown appears to have copied an unpublished design of George Bullock, who supplied a pair of bookcases of this form for New Longwood, the residence-in-exile of Napoleon, circa 1815.

Ω A Regency rosewood and satinwood banded library table, circa 1815, attributed to Gillows, the rectangular top with a shallow frieze and inverted corners, above twin trestle uprights decorated with crossbanding and on downswept sabre legs terminating in lappet cast gilt metal caps and casters, 75cm high, 110cm wide, 60cm deepProvenance: Rockbeare Manor, Exeter, DevonThis table can be attributed to Gillows of London and Lancaster who made particular use of the downswept end-supports on many of their tables. A related calamander-banded writing-table by Gillows, has similar ends filled with spindles and relates to a sketch dated 1818 in their Estimate Sketch Books, number 2079 (G. Wills, Craftsmen and Cabinet-Makers of Classic English Furniture, Edinburgh, 1974, pp. 117-118, figs. 108-109). A closely related calamander sofa table attributed to Gillows, from Castle Hyde, Fermoy, Co. Cork, was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 8 July 1993, lot 99.  The distinctive oak leaf cast castors are a design know to have been used by Gillows. Cites Regulations Please note that this lot (lots marked with the symbol Ω in the printed catalogue) may be subject to CITES regulations when exported from the EU. The CITES regulations may be found at www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla-en/imports-exports/cites

Ω A Victorian rosewood triple section clothes press , by J. Kendell & Co., circa 1840, the central pair of panelled doors opening to four sliding trays, above two short and two long cedar lined drawers, flanked by turned pilasters, each cupboard to the side opening to hanging space, on a plinth base, bearing the makers paper label to the reverse with indistinct number and workmans name, 190cm high, 250cm wide, 60cm deep J Kendell & Co were cabinet makers from Leeds, Yorkshire and who s craftsmanship is seen to be on a par with that of Gillows. The firm was established between 1783 to 1840 and is listed in the G.Beard & C.Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, as an important Leeds maker. J Kendell & Co was eventually taken over by the well known firm of Marsh and Jones, later to be called by their better known name Marsh, Jones and Cribb. From the 1830 s J Kendall & Co adopted the policy of labeling furniture The craftsmanship of these pieces of furniture can be superb with very fine timbers used indeed. They did use simple woods like oak and mahogany but some of the best examples were in rosewood. Provenance: Private collection from a Country House, Surrey Cites Regulations Please note that this lot (lots marked with the symbol Ω in the printed catalogue) may be subject to CITES regulations when exported from the EU. The CITES regulations may be found at www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla-en/imports-exports/cites

A Victorian carved walnut and marble mounted centre table, circa 18 60, the oval grey veined white marble top within a repeated acanthus carved edge, the pierced frieze decorated with fruiting branch swags interspersed with armorial shields, one crowned armorial flanked by twin rampant lions and titled 'CHABLAIS' beneath, with an alternate armorial opposing, the stem formed of a profusely carved flowering basket, each shaped and profusely acanthus and scroll carved leg surmounted by a mask, two depicting male masks, the other two female, on carved scroll feet, 81cm high, 150cm wide, 110cm deep For a related centre table by Strahan & Co. , see Sothebys Important English Furniture, 5th June 2007, lot 244. The overall design and profuse carving in addition to the use of four specific figures/ masks to the base is similar to the current table being offered. Strahan and Co. of Dublin were founded in 1776 and by the mid-nineteenth century were trading from several premises in the city. At this stage Strahan, who had exhibited first at the Dublin exhibition of 1853, appear to have been influenced stylistically both by the robust classicism of Thomas Hope and by the neo-Elizabethanism of designers like Richard Bridgens. The same could be said of the current table. This specific type of table owes something to the by-then-celebrated 'sea-dogs' table acquired by Bess of Hardwick by 1601 and still at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire

Robert Physick, (English circa 1816 ~ 1882), a sculpted white marble bust of Lt. General Sir Lewis Grant KCB KCH, dated 1852, portrayed in middle age, with finely modeled features, in formal military attire and with his decorations, inscribed Robt PHYSICK Sculpt 1852 to the truncation at the reverse, atop a waisted circular socle, 79cm high, 55cm wide And a morocco leather covered wood document casket, circa 1830, inscribed for HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR, TRINIDAD , with brass swing handle to the hinged cover, gilt tooled with the royal cypher thrice, 13.5cm high overall, 30cm wide Lewis Grant was a son of Duncan Grant, of Mulochaird in Strathspey, Scotland and a younger brother of the physician, Sir James Robert Grant, who was chief medical officer at Waterloo. Grant entered the army in 1794 as an ensign in the 95th Regiment, from which he was promoted to lieutenant in the 97th Regiment. In 1795, Grant was aboard HMS Orion under James Saumarez at the Battle of Groix. He was promoted to captain in 1796 and subsequently fought under Sir Ralph Abercromby in the West Indies In June 1801, Grant was appointed Assistant Quarter and Barrack Master General in Tobago and held the same position in Dominica in 1802. Promoted to major in 1802, he transferred to the 3rd West Indian Regiment and returned to England in 1803. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the 70th Regiment in 1804, he returned to the West Indies that year. Further promoted to colonel in 1813 and major-general in 1819, Grant was then appointed Governor of the Bahamas in 1820, then Governor of Trinidad in 1829 serving in the latter post until 1833. It was whilst serving in this position that the Abolition of Slavery Act was passed, and Grant found himself caught between the recalcitrance of the slave owners on one side and the needs and requirements of the newly emancipated slaves on the other On 13 September 1831, Grant was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order and Knight Bachelor, appointed to the colonelcy of the 96th Regiment of Foot on 9 April 1839 and awarded an honorary MA from Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1847 On 11 November 1851, he was promoted to general and died suddenly from heart disease a few months later on 26 January 1852, aboard an omnibus on Regent Street, London

A pair of Coalport landscape painted plates, circa 1880, 'Kilchurn Castle' and 'Ben Venue', printed, impressed and painted marks alongside titles, ex Shrewsbury Museum paper labels, 26.5cm diameterKilchurn Castle is a ruined 15th century structure on the northeastern end of Loch Awe, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.It was the ancestral home of the Campbells of Glen Orchy, who later became the Earls of Breadalbane also known as the Breadalbane family branch, of the Clan Campbell. The earliest construction on the castle was the tower house and Laich Hall (looks onto Loch Awe). Ben Venue is a mountain in the Trossachs area of Scotland. The name Ben Venue is derived from the Scottish Gaelic words meaning "the miniature mountain".

A Chinese famille rose plaque of Wang Xizhi, Qing Dynasty, possibly 18th Century, of rectangular form and painted in colours with the calligrapher at his desk on which is arranged a brush pot, ink stone, scrolls and a scholar's rock, he greets two boys who bring him a pair of captured geese while a pair of bats fly above, 26cm x 38cm.Footnote: Wang Xizhi (AD303-361) is considered one of China's greatest calligraphers who took much inspiration for his work from nature, particularly the graceful curves in the necks of geese. A rare and exceptional cinnabar lacquer brush pot depicting Wang Xizhi contemplating geese was sold in these rooms, 9 November 2016, lot 158.

A Chinese Canton carved ivory vase and cover, of campana form with twin dragon handles, the domed cover with a dragon and cloud finial, the body intricately carved in high relief with a continuous battle scene in a landscape with rocks, trees and buildings, above a knopped stem and stepped foot, carved with bands of lotus leaves and leafy scrolls, 26cm high.Provenance: Purchased by the present vendor at auction from Banks & Silvers, 6 May 1981, Oakhampton House, Dunley, Worcestershire, lot 447.Footnote: Oakhampton House in Dunley had been in the ownership of the Crane family since 1827, and was extensively modernised in 1883 at the behest of John Henry Crane who commissioned architect J.P.St Aubyn to carry out the work. The house was used by Banks & Silver as an auction venue during the early 1980s.

An 18th century 3'' brass reflecting telescope inscribed on the tube 'I. Baddely, Albrighton', with screw rod adjustment to one side, screw lens cap and folding tripod stand, 35cm overall length, 7cm diameter, 37cm high (level)The maker appears to be John Baddely who was baptised in Tong church in 1720 and who became a clock and watch maker at 18. In 1762 he started work in optics constructing a reflective telescope and later moved to Albrighton and is buried there. In Shaw's Staffordshire the author comments upon Baddely 'his superiority as a clock maker will be told for some years to come by the numerous domestic and turret clocks substantially constructed by him in every part of the country within many miles of Albrighton where he long resided', for further information refer to www.discoveringtong.org

A collection of photographs of The Who and a Pete Townsend 'Empty Glass' poster.

An autograph of the new 'Dr Who' Jodie Whittaker signed on white card and mounted in card and ready for framing. Size approx 27x40cm.

A collection of Who LPs including 'Live At Leeds' (2406 001) with red stamp on cover, Quadrophenia (2657013) and others plus an interesting scrapbook on The Who from the 1960's.

A late 19th century Coalbrookdale pierced cast iron fruit dish, 29cm diameter, together with a further Coalbrookdale brass pierced dish on pale brown ceramic foot, impressed Victorian registration mark, 10.5cm high (2)The design is by a German architect and designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel who travelled to England to study the techniques of cast iron production before returning to Germany where he designed pieces for the famous Berlin foundry. The same motif used of the water gods and hippocampi (sea horses) with tridents on this plate is used on the famous Schloßbrucke (Palace Bridge) in Berlin. Arguably one of the grandest bridges in Berlin and a fantastic historical association with this design of plate.

A collection of vinyl albums, including Pink Floyd, Marrilion, Led Zepplin, The Who, etc

Patrick O'Reilly, b.1957GOLDEN BEARBronze and 24 carat gold leaf, 14" (h) x 13" (w) (35.5 x 33cm)Please note this bear is being offered on behalf of Ballet Ireland, who will receive the proceeds of sale. The purchaser will also receive four tickets to the opening night of the world premiere of Ballet Ireland's new production of 'Titanic' next year.

Natural History: A very rare three dimensional Plesiosaur skeleton Lower Lias Formation, Lyme Regis, Dorset, approx. 205 million years ago 300cm long During 1840 one of the first books ever written about prehistoric animals was published. Not only was the volume huge in size, it was given the very dramatic title of The Book of the Great Sea Dragons, and its subject was the fossil Plesiosaurs that had recently been found at Lyme Regis and in nearby places. The terrifying and awesome appearance of these iconic creatures from the Age of Dinosaurs justified the title, and ever since the idea of Plesiosaurs has coloured the imaginations of many, many people. Even today there are those who cannot quite bring themselves to believe that these remarkable creatures became extinct some 70 million years ago. Whenever an enigmatic sighting is made of an unidentifiable sea animal, the idea of the legendary sea serpent is put forward, quickly followed by a question: could the mysterious creature have been a surviving Plesiosaur? There are even those who suggest that the Loch Ness Monster (if it exists at all) is nothing more or less than a family of Plesiosaurs! Fossil remains of these creatures have been found in various parts of the world (and there are a number of different kinds), but the first to be discovered was found at Lyme Regis in the 1820s by the celebrated fossilist Mary Anning, a lady who kick-started the whole concept of fossil collecting. The specimen she dug out from the cliffs astonished the scientific world and her contemporaries couldn’t decide exactly what manner of creature it was. One described it as resembling a snake that had been threaded through the body shape of a turtle. The species was eventually given the scientific name of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus, and it is an example of this species that is being offered at Summers Place. Although a number of specimens have been retrieved since the time of Mary Anning, these represent very rare finds and very few have been obtained in anything like a complete state. Those that have been assembled in three-dimensional condition are even rarer and there are unlikely to be more than two or three in the world. This particular example comes from Broad Ledge, a spot very close to the centre of Lyme Regis, and was found some 30 years ago, since when it has been in private hands.

Taxidermy: A Tiger skin 1900’s the felt backing with faded Rowland Ward |The Jungle| label 275cm long by 220cm wide This tiger was hunted by Major JWM Cotton who was well known for his love of Shikar and is being sold by a direct descendant.

A cased gentlemen's 18ct gold Royama mechanical bracelet watch, c.1980,a rectangular black lacquered dial with raised sword batons and hands. An Omani royal coat of arms, polished bezel and integral silk finish Milanese tapering bracelet with ladder snap clasp. Marked 750. Swiss made. With fitted case with Omani royal coat of arms. 187mm long, 79.85gBy repute given to James Norman who worked for the Omani Government.

A Scandinavian silver tankard and cover maker's mark 'K', probably for Christian Johansen Kruse, Trondheim, C. 1674,cylindrical on three pomegranate feet, the hinged cover engraved a contemporary armorial, between SC R*K PDH and 1674, further engraved to the front with later presentation inscription, the handle with pomegranate thumbpiece, marked below the base with maker's mark only,13cm high, 11ozThe inscription reads: Presented at TrondhjembyH.R.H the Prince of WalestoCommander W.H. Fawkessailed Belle Lurettewinner Bembridge RegattaAugust 1885Admiral Sir Wilmot Hawksworth Fawkes, GCB, KCVO (22 December 1846-29 May 1926), was a Royal Navy officer, who commanded the Royal Yacht Osborne, and became Private Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty in 1897. His last post was as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, 1908. The tankard was presented by The Prince of Wales, who would become Edward VII in 1902. In 1899 Fawkes became Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria. He was awarded Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) by King Edward VII on 11 August 1902 for his role in helping to organise the fleet review for the coronation of the King, 1902.See eleven letters addressed to the admiral by royalty, sold Sworders, 26 September 2017. The letters demonstrate the continuous relationship that Fawkes held with royalty. One letter dated November 6th, 1908, is addressed to Fawkes from Prince George, who thanks the admiral for interviewing a young Prince Albert to become a cadet of the Royal Navy, for which he was President. The intimate letter reads: 'I am sorry that in spite of all you did, you were unable to put him at his ease, he has always been rather shy, but I think it is better than being too forward, which many boys are in our days'.The Admiral is a descendant of The Fawkes of Farnely Hall, Otley, and Hawksworth Hall, Yorks. The father of Guye Fawkes, the gunpowder plot conspirator, was a descendant of the Fawkes family in Farnely. J M W Turner was a close friend of Walter Ramsden Hawkesworth Fawkes, a Yorkshire MP (2 March 1769-24 October 1825), which enabled him to build a significant collection of Turner’s works. Turner stayed at Farnely on numerous occasions. His oil painting ‘Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps’, 1812, is said to have been inspired by a storm he experienced on one visit to Farnely.

A rare set of four early 18th century provincial silver trencher salts,maker's mark unclear, Exeter, 1721,of rectangular form with canted corners, the bases engraved with scratch weights,6.75cm long, 13oz (4)Some of the hallmarks are very unclear. They could have been made by John Elston of Exeter, who is known to have made trencher salts, or possibly Abraham Lovell of Plymouth.We would like to thank Tim Kent for his help in cataloguing these salts. He is the leading authority on West Country silver. He has published numerous books including 'West Country Silver Spoons and Their Marks 1550-1750'.