Clevedon Salerooms
Lot 99
Hunting Interest - Good late Victorian silver and enamel visiting card case, the cover finely modelled with an anthropomorphic Foxhound wearing hunting jacket and doffing his riding hat, holding a crop, wearing riding boots, inscribed in enamel beside Yours Sportingly Rallywood Cleveland, the silver-gilt interior with pierced mounts, inscribed to 'Myra July 16th 1889', hallmarked London 1889, sponsor George Wilkinson, the external reverse with diagonally-divided red and blue enamel decoration over wavy engine-turning, 9.5cm x 6.8cm, 6.3toz gross approx, in original wine Morocco fitted case of G.Wilkinson Barrett & Co Jewellers & Silversmiths 48 Piccadilly Next Door to Burlington House, the Morocco case 12.5cm wide. Rallywood Cleveland was the pseudonym of Lilian Frances Myra Swan (1870-1949), authoress of 'Some Incidents in the Life of a Foxhound; An Autobiography, published by Sampson Brothers of York 1889. She was born in 1869 and was raised at the family estate, Upsall Hall in Yorkshire. After school education, she wrote two sporting novels (one listed above) before turning to serious fiction - however, her career sadly never flourished and after struggling to publish her final novel she stopped writing in 1905. She died unmarried in her native Yorkshire in 1949. Condition: Enamel to hunting jacket is almost all missing as per image, general light scratching to surface commensurate with age and use, interior in excellent condition, minor scratches to enamel of reverse, light staining to silk lining to underside of cover - **General condition consistent with age
