* Doyle (Arthur Conan, 1859-1930). Author, creator of Sherlock Holmes and writer on spiritualism. Autograph Letter Signed, ‘Arthur Conan Doyle’, The Compton Arms Hotel, Minstead letterhead, 9 December 1925, to Mrs Thorn, sending her an assortment of pamphlets (not present), discussing in detail, spirit phenomena, his own psychic experiences and further mentioning the infamous ‘Margery’ case, ‘…When your friend goes into a trance ask…who is the young man’s Guide…When any new entity visits or speaks you will say ‘Do you believe in God?… We - my wife and I - got a direct voice the other day at our second sitting for it. A clear ‘Good evening’ came from above our heads. We were thrilled…. I don’t know if you have followed the Margery case and the persecution of Mrs Crandon in Boston…’, very light stain to bottom of first page with no loss of legibility, 2 pages in a close hand, 8voQTY: (1)NOTE:Mina ‘Margery’ Crandon (1888-1941) was a Boston medium who found herself embroiled in one of the most bitter controversies in American psychic research. Her followers claimed that she was one of the greatest mediums who ever lived, while her critics called her a fraud: her most famous being the escapologist Harry Houdini whose obsessive crusade against her almost cost him his own career. In his introduction to a substantial article in the Boston Herald (26 January 1925) and published shortly after the present letter was written, Conan Doyle wrote – ‘It is Christmas morning and I sit at a table which is heaped with documents and photographs. They are the dossier of the Crandon case. Perhaps one should not work on Xmas day and yet there is no day so holy that one may not use it for the fight for truth, the exposure of evil and the defence of the honour of a most estimable lady. The Margery case will live in history and it is perhaps fitting that I should have some hand in the record since the matter was in a double sense of my begetting.’ The ‘Margery’ book to which Doyle refers in this letter, is likely to be J. Malcolm Bird’s “Margery” The Medium, (1925), which was written in support of ‘Margery’ Crandon.Conan Doyle became absorbed by spiritualism in later life, writing and lecturing on the subject. Interestingly, Conan Doyle was eventually buried in the churchyard of All Saints in Minstead Village having previously been buried vertically in Crowborough.A letter of excellent content and apparently unpublished.
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* Drinkwater (John, 1882-1937). English author, poet and playwright. An archive of autograph letters and documents by or to John Drinkwater, relating to his 1928 biography of Charles James Fox, comprising: Autograph Manuscript Signed (with initials), no place, 20 August 1928, being a list of 21 corrections to his biography of Charles James Fox, 1 page, 4to; Autograph Manuscript (unsigned), written on board the SS Olympic, in the form of a telegraph, being an extensive list of corrections and alternatives for the second edition of his Fox biography; Autograph fragment (unsigned), on a small piece of his letterhead in red pencil, all three with minor paperclip rust marks; a first edition of his biography of Fox, signed and dated 1928 above an autograph inscription, some staining to page edges, original cloth in dust jacket, 8vo, plus 10 further related mostly Autograph Letters Signed from Edward Marsh (1872-1953), Philippa and Francesca Stephenson (1858-1941), John Laurence Le Breton Hammond (1872-1949), Ernest Edward Kellett (1852-1941), Algernon Law (1856-1943) and Edward V.R. PowysQTY: (14)
* Eliot (George, 1819-1880). English novelist, poet, journalist and translator. Autograph Letter Signed, 'M.E. Lewes', The Heights, Witley, near Godalming, 29 June 1879, to Sir Henry [Maine], 'I cannot satisfy myself without telling you that your kind letter was a needful comfort to me. I get into despair sometimes and fancy that nobody reads a serious book except its author or editor, all the other so-called readers only dipping into it here and there in order to form a few mistaken conclusions concerning its general tenor', continuing by asking him to forgive her morbidness which is due to a rather painful illness she has been suffering from, noting that she is on the way to recovery while continuing her correspondence in bed, thanking him and Lady Maine for their sympathy expressed months ago, and concluding that 'This place will, I suppose, be my abode thro' the summer and early autumn, but if I live to get back to town I hope that we shall see each other again', written in purple ink on the first and third page of mourning stationery letterhead bifollium, the final blank page pasted to an old album leaf with some adhesion browning see-through, 8voQTY: (1)NOTE:Henry James Sumner Maine (1822-1888) was a British Whig, comparative jurist and historian. He is famous for the thesis outlined in his book Ancient Law that law and society developed 'from status to contract'. George Eliot was a friend of Maine and read his influential book which informed her own work.This letter was written seven months after her partner George Henry Lewes had died, after which Eliot spent the remaining two years of her life editing Lewes's final work, Life and Mind.
* Herrmann (Bernard, 1911-1975). Composer of film music, most notably for the Alfred Hitchcock film ‘Psycho’. A small archive of material signed by Herrmann together with an unsigned score, comprising: a copy of Roloff Beny’s book A Time of Gods, 1st edition, Viking Press. 1962. signed and inscribed by Bernard Herrmann to Ursula Vaughan Williams with an Autograph Musical Quotation (opening 4 bars of his cantata Moby Dick), ‘Merry Christmas / to Ursula / “a real voyager” / from Bernard and Norma / Dec 25 / [19]74’, inscribed on the same page by Ursula Vaughan Williams, ‘Bernard and Norma Herrmann’, original cloth in dust jacket, some wear; together with:Jean Phillipe Rameau’s Pieces de Clavecin, Barenreiter 1940, signed ‘Bernard Herrmann’ in red ink on the title page, with a further 15 pages annotated by Herrmann either with text (c. 45 words) or musical additions (4 pages with various notes and phrasing added), [from Herrmann’s personal library which was sold by his wife Norma], plus a series of four LP Proof Pressings signed or inscribed by Herrmann as either conductor or composer: Lyrita recording of Cyril Scott’s Piano Concerto no 1; Lyrita recording of Cyril Scott’s Piano Concerto no 2; Bernard Herrmann - Music by Erik Satie and Darius Milhaud; The Unicorn recording Bernard Herrmann's Piano Quintet, the first two signed and inscribed on the inner sleeve, the third inscribed on the inner sleeve and the last inscribed on the upper cover; plus a rare copy of the Vocal score (unsigned) of Herrmann’s opera Wuthering Heights, original printed wrappers, split on joints and partially detached, folioQTY: (7)
* Kipling (Joseph Rudyard, 1865-1936). English writer. Typed Letter Signed, 'Rudyard Kipling', Bateman's, Burwash, Sussex, 22 August 1914, to Sybil, thanking her for the letter and saying that he is sorry the news is not better, continuing 'I know that you will understand that letter-writing is outside the possibilities these days; we are all so hard at work. I thought of you when I was at Dartmouth. I was only there twenty-four hours; I went for a sound purpose and returned directly I achieved it', concluding by saying that Trix is still at Jersey and the news is much the same, one page on Bateman's letterhead, a few light creases and fold marks, two or three minor spots, 4toQTY: (1)NOTE:Written just after the start of the First World War, the letter is to Sybil who was the daughter of Wilfred Lucas Heeley. He was a school friend of the artist Edward Burne-Jones in Birmingham and had been engaged to Kipling's aunt Caroline.
* Lear (Edward, 1812-1888). English artist, illustrator, and author. A lengthy Autograph Letter Signed, 'Edward Lear', Villa Tennyson, Sanremo, c. 1884, to Mr Maine, written in occasionally idiosyncratic language, ‘I have the HenVellip [?envelope] of this ready to write to you, because I have a very unsatisfactory letter from Frank F[rank] Luckington; - his youngest boy - my god son, - being so unwell that Mr FL is obliged to take him away from London to the seaside’, later referring to a drawing, ‘Very possibly you do not remember seeing here, a drawing of Corfu: - it was down for a Mr Kettlewell - (“Wildman Kettlewell,” ...), well, I was just sending it off to Somersetshire, when comes a letter that Kettlewell and Mrs Kettlewell are on their way to the Bellevue next door to me, and will be here, to my very great pleasure, - sometime this week...’, telling of his trip to church and what a relief it is to ‘have a proper place of worship’, thanking him for his magazine, ‘I will read the paper on Cambridge silly bits presently’ asking that he does not go to Cairo without letting him know first and hoping that he might go with him to his old villa where ‘I should be glad to show you letters i have from Hogg the bookseller about Corsica and the Nonsense, and also one from the Consul at Geneva about my loss through the swindling people who took V. Emily and absquatulated’, telling to bring any friends he wants 'you may amuse by my Gallery’, mentioning his illness and breathlessness but saying that ‘at other times I flourish like a green baize tree’, with a footnote referring back to the silly bits and concluding, ‘only I distrust the proverb about “gripping fleas” in haste. That is a mistake. An experience of over 50 years in Italy and other little psyllic lands has taught me that slow movements with a wet fingertip, is the proper line of action’, a little spotting and soiling, 3 pages, 8vo, the final blank page pasted onto an old card album leaf with lower blank margin trimmed away QTY: (1)NOTE:Mr Maine is probably a son of the jurist Sir Henry James Sumner Maine (1822-1888).
* Maine (Henry James Sumner, 1822-1888). Whig comparative jurist and historian. A pair of autograph albums with approximately 80 Autograph Letters Signed to Maine or his wife, mostly 1870s/1880s, the first album containing autograph letters signed from Matthew Arnold, Prince Albert Victor (x2), Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Henry Fawcett, Henry Grote, J.A. Froude, Lord Lytton, Louis Blanc (in French), John Murray, Herbert Spencer, Lord Salisbury, W.V. Harcourt, Herbert Herkomer, Anne Ritchie, Jenny Lind Goldschmidt and Otto Goldschmidt, plus approximately 50 further signatures and autograph fragments including Daniel O'Connell and Francis Galton; the second album of 40 letters being letters of condolence to Lady Maine on the death of her husband in 1888, correspondents include Lord and Lady Acton, Matthew Arnold, Thomas Hughes (fragment of letter), Lord Brassey, Frederic Harrison, Lord Salisbury, Cardinal Manning, F.W.H. Myers, Louis Mallet, Lord Arthur Russell and Francis Galton, the majority of letters 1 or 2 pages, 8vo, tipped or pasted on to rectos and versos of mounts throughout, a few letters loose, contemporary half roan, covers detached and backstrips deficient, 4to (24 x 18.5 cm)QTY: (2)
* Meredith (George, 1828-1909). English novelist and poet. A rare signed carte de visite of George Meredith standing next to his son Arthur Gryffydh (1853-1890), c. 1861, albumen print on original mount, neatly signed and inscribed to verso, ‘With George Meredith’s compliments to Mrs Knowles dated the great (13th) day of August 1862’QTY: (1)NOTE:Meredith’s relationship with Arthur, his son by his first wife Mary, was at first affectionate (they made a memorable trip to the Alps and Venice in 1861), but for most of Arthur's adult life, father and son were estranged. In 1862 Arthur was enrolled at Norwich School, which was run by a friend of Meredith's, Augustus Jessopp, and it is most likely that this photograph was taken to mark that occasion.
Montgomery (Bernard Law, 1887-1976). British Field Marshal of War War II. Personal message from the Army Commander (to be read out to all troops) issued in Tunisia, 14 May 1943, a printed message on buff paper, outlined eight numbered points, the first being 'Now that the campaign in Africa is finished I want to tell you all, my soldiers, how intensely proud I am of what you have done', and ending with 'together, you and I, we will see this thing through to the end', Montgomery's printed name at foot, signed in black ink at head, 'B L Montgomery / General', a little age wear and several marginal splits, two small tears with blank loss including upper right corner and lower left margin, not affecting signature or text, original fold lines, one page, 4to (25.5 x 20.5 cm) QTY: (1)NOTE:A rare signed survival, this being one of a series of similar leaflets issued by Montgomery to the Eighth Army as it fought its way from Alamein to Tunisia between August 1942 and May 1943. Montgomery explained that the intention of these personal messages was 'to define the common objective and thereby foster unity of purpose.. I like to think that these messages did much to foster the spirit and will-to-win...' (El Alamein to the River Sangro).
* Moonwalkers. A NASA Apollo Missions Moonwalkers' autographs boardroom display piece, featuring autographs of all 12 Apollo moonwalker astronauts, comprising: Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong, (1930-2012), black ballpoint pen on plain paper; Apollo 11: Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, (1930- ), silver pen on black paper; Apollo 12: Charles "Pete" Conrad, (1930-1999), blue ballpoint pen on plain paper; Apollo 12: Alan Bean, (1932-2018), First Day Cover, also signed by Jack Lousma & Owen Garriott; Apollo 14: Alan B. Shepard Jr, (1923-1998), gold pen on black paper; Apollo 14: Edgar D. Mitchell (1930-2016), signed FDC; Apollo 15: David Scott (1932- ), signed FDC, also signed by Alfred M. Worden; Apollo 15: James B. Irwin (1930-1991), black felt tip on plain paper with 'Apollo 18' and thumbnail crescent moon added; Apollo 16: John W. Young (1930-2018), silver pen on black paper with 'Apollo 16 CDR'; Apollo 16: Charles M. Duke (1935- ), cut photograph portion signed twice, including once for 'Roy'; Apollo 17: Eugene Cernan (1934-2017), signed FDC, also signed by Roy Evans; Apollo 17: Harrison H. Schmitt (1935- ), signed FDC; presented in pairs, each with a 9 x 9 cm photographic portrait in space suit mounted above, plus badges of Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 & 17, all arranged neatly and symmetrically in two columns around a central large colour photograph (83 x 54 cm) showing Buzz Aldrin on the Moon as photographed by Neil Armstrong (with Armstrong seen in the visor reflection along with Earth), black frame with Perspex glazing, overall 115 x 167 cm (45 x 66 ins)QTY: (1)NOTE:An impressive and large centrepiece display celebrating the Apollo lunar missions with the autographs of all the Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon. Of the twelve only Buzz Aldrin, David Scott, Charles Duke and Harrison Schmitt are still alive.Fifty-three years ago, on 21 July 1969, at 02:56 UTC Neil Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface. Buzz Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later. They spent over two hours together outside the spacecraft collecting lunar material to bring back to Earth. Command module pilot Michael Collins flew the command module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while they were on the Moon's surface. In total Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours 31 minutes on the lunar surface at a site they named Tranquility Base before lifting off to rejoin Columbia in lunar orbit.A certificate of authenticity supplied by Charles Phillips & Sons is included with the lot.
* Pepys (Samuel, 1633-1703). English diarist and naval administrator. Document Signed, ‘Samuell Pepys’, Navy Office, 5 April 1661, warrant addressed to William Sheldon, Clerk of the Cheque of the naval yard at Woolwich, for an order from his Royal Highness James Duke of York &c. Lord High Adm[ira]l of England, ‘dat[ed] 3rd instant These are to pray and require you to enter Dan[ie]l Kempe boatswaine of his Ma[jest]ys Shipp the Yarmouth with such allowance of wages and victuals for himselfe and his servant as is usuall and propper for the Boatswaine of his Ma[jest]ys, said shipp…’, signed at foot of text by Pepys and three others, Robert Slingesby, William Batten and William Penn, some spotting and light old dampstaining (affecting Penn’s autograph), 1 page with integral blank, endorsed, tipped onto a paper mount, folioQTY: (1)NOTE:Signed by Pepys, (unusually with his full first name), as Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board. Pepys’s Diary (pepysdiary.com) for 5 April 1661 reads:‘Up among my workmen and so to the office, and then to Sir W. Pen’s with the other Sir William and Sir John Lawson to dinner, and after that, with them to Mr. Lucy’s, a merchant, where much good company, and there drank a great deal of wine, and in discourse fell to talk of the weight of people, which did occasion some wagers, and where, among others, I won half a piece to be spent.Then home, and at night to Sir W. Batten’s, and there very merry with a good barrell of oysters, and this is the present life I lead.Home and to bed.’Sir Robert Slingsby, 1st Baronet (1611–1661), naval commander and Comptroller of the Navy, and in his last years a much-loved colleague of Samuel Pepys.Sir William Batten (1601-1667), naval officer and administrator. As Surveyor of the Navy he was a colleague of Samuel Pepys, who mentions him frequently in his ‘Diary’, often to his detriment.Sir William Penn (1621-1670), English admiral and politician. In 1660 he was appointed a Commissioner of the Navy Board where he worked with Pepys. He was the father of William Penn, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania.
* Rawsthorne (Alan (1906-1971). British composer. Autograph Manuscript Signed, ‘Alan Rawsthorne’, no place, no date, c. 1951, being a complete two piano version of the 3rd movement Intermezzo of Rawsthorne’s 2nd Piano Concerto (one part being an orchestral reduction), written in pencil in his calligraphic hand, on 2 or 4 staves as required and signed at the head of the first page, with a further annotation to the reverse of the final page by Sir Clifford Curzon (who gave the work’s first performance), slight soiling, corner wear and signs of use on first page which is also detached, otherwise in good condition, 9 pages, folio, together with a first edition printed copy of the full score, original wrappers, covers detached, folioQTY: (2)NOTE:Rawsthorne wrote his Second Piano Concerto in 1951 and it received its first performance at the then new Festival Hall in June of that year, with Clifford Curzon as soloist. This arrangement, by the composer, of the third movement Intermezzo (effectively the slow movement) is beautifully written in pencil in his neat and meticulous hand. It is possible that Curzon himself owned this manuscript and from the signs of use (including indications of phrasing in the piano solo part) it is also possible that this was the score used by him to learn this particular movement; a short inscription on the final blank page of the manuscript in Curzon’s hand supports this view, (he went on to record the work for Decca a few months after its premiere).The manuscript appears to be just one section of a complete set of movements, as the pages are numbered 54 to 62 (the first movement in this form, is in the archive of Rawsthorne manuscripts held at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester; the 2nd and 4th movements being seemingly unaccounted for, and it is possible that Curzon owned those movements too). A timing of 6’45” has been written at the conclusion of the work, indicating that it may well have been used in the recording session in 1951. There are 2 further recordings of this work and it has come to be regarded as one of the composer's most successful compositions.
* Rutherford (Ernest, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, 1871-1937). New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. Typed Letter Signed, 'Rutherford', Newnham Cottage, Queen's Road, Cambridge, 7 December 1934, to an unidentified woman, thanking her for her 'generosity in sending us a contribution to the funds of the Academic Assistance Council', telling her that her letter has been sent to him along with the enclosure 'with regard to the Douglas Social Credit Scheme. I have heard a good deal about the Douglas Scheme, but it is difficult for one like myself who's not an authority on economic affairs to form any clear opinion of the practicability of this very interesting and suggestive Scheme. I believe, however, that it is such a novel scheme that time will be required to educate both Government and public to its advantages', signed in black ink, embossed letterhead with recipient's acknowledgement identifier dated 9.12.34 upper left, a few minor spots and marks, one page, 4to, hinge remains to verso from previous album mountingQTY: (1)NOTE:Rutherford became Director of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1919. Under his leadership the neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932 and in the same year the first experiment to split the nucleus in a fully controlled manner was performed by students working under his direction, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton.The Academic Assistance Council was founded in May 1933 by Britain's foremost academics and scientists, in response to Hitler's decision to expel hundreds of leading scholars from German universities on racial grounds. It continues to this day as the Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara), helping those academics facing discrimination, persecution, suffering and violence around the world. Its founding statement appealed for 'means to prevent the waste of exceptional abilities exceptionally trained'. The Nobel Prize-winning chemist and physicist Ernest Rutherford was chosen as the first President.Major Clifford Hugh Douglas (1879-1952) was a British engineer and pioneer of the social credit economic reform movement. The basis of Douglas's reform ideas was to free workers from this system by bringing purchasing power in line with production, which became known as social credit. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he saw as a chronic deficiency of purchasing power in the economy, Douglas prescribed government intervention in the form of the issuance of debt free money directly to consumers or producers in order to combat such discrepancy. Douglas is mentioned by John Maynard Keynes in The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936, p. 32), and his theories permeate the poetry and economic writings of Ezra Pound.
* Strauss (Richard, 1864-1949). German composer. Autograph Postcard Signed, ‘Richard Strauss’, Charlottenburg, Knesebeckstrasse 30, 22 October 1902, to Alfred Kalisch, in German, telling him that the [Berlin] premiere of Feuersnot will take place on Tuesday 28 October, hoping that he can come and saying that he will get him tickets if he knows in good time, a little dust-soiling, vertical centre crease and small creases to right-hand corners, address side with significant paper adhesion remains partially affecting postmarked stamp and final address line, 9 x 14 cm, together with a printed letterpress broadside for an early performance of Elektra at Fankfurter Openhaus, 6 February 1909, 49 x 25.5 cmQTY: (2)NOTE:Alfred Kalisch (1863-1933), English music critic and librettist best remembered for his support of Strauss and for his translations of Strauss's operas.Feuersnot, Op. 50, is a one-act opera with a libretto by Ernst von Wolzogen. It was Strauss’s second opera and one which gained notoriety for its bawdiness and innuendo. After its highly successful premiere at the Königliches Opernhaus, Dresden, on 21 November 1901, at which Gustav and Alma Mahler attended, it was staged in many theatres across Germany (and unsuccessfully in Vienna). This postcard relates to the Berlin premiere where it was well received and went on to have seven performances. However, the Kaiserin saw it and took a dislike to the bawdiness so Kaiser Wilhelm had the opera banned.Strauss's one-act opera, Elektra, Op. 58, was first performed at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden on 25 January 1909.
* Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986). 'Sherpa Tenzing', Nepali-Indian sherpa mountaineer, one of the first two people known to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Postcard Signed, 'Tenzing Norgay, 17/5/66', a vintage real photo postcard of a smiling Tenzing Norgay with blue ballpoint pen signature and date to verso, together with 3 related small-format photographs of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and Tenzing's house in Darjeeling, an unused wallet of 12 perforated postcards with cover wrapper titled 'The First Indian Everest Expedition', and a first edition copy of John Hunt's 'The Ascent of Everest', 1953, original cloth in torn dust jacket, 8voQTY: (6)
* Wallace (Alfred Russel, 1823-1913). British Naturalist, explorer and biologist. Autograph Letter Signed, ‘Alfred R Wallace’, Frith Hill, Godalming, 11 May 1882, to unidentified editor saying ‘that I cannot undertake a paper on Darwin, because I have arranged to do a lot of Ex[a]m papers for Prof. Judd at South Kensington which will occupy every minute of my time for 3 weeks...’ then recommending Mr Grant Allen, ‘who for appreciation of Mr Darwin’s work and brilliancy of style cannot be surpassed’, heavy spotting and several hinge remains from previous mounting, away from signature and text, 1 page, 8vo, together with a cabinet card photograph of Alfred Russel Wallace by London Stereoscopic Company [1895], hinge and adhesion remains to verso, plus an Autograph Letter Signed from Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), Kew Gardens, 13 June 1879, to an unidentified women, identifying a plant as the ‘Paulonia imperator of Japan, which flowers occasionally in England’ and later turning out that he never aspired to write a book on the biology of plants and wishing he had the knowledge to do it, heavy toning, mounting hinge remains to left margin, insect damage to lower margin just touching bottom of initial letters of first and last name in his signature, 2 pages, 8vo, plus an Autograph Letter Signed from Herbert Spencer (1820-1903, English philosopher, psychologist, biologist and sociologist), 38 Queen’s Gardens, Bayswater, 15 December 1882, to Percy W. Bunting referring to an enclosed revised proof with an introductory paragraph, and considering the title “Notes on America” not appropriate as readers may believe they have already read this, and considering the title “The Americans: An Interview and a Speech, with additions” a better alternative, with a long postscript concerning various changes, 3 pages, a little soiling, mounting hinge remains to final blank page, 8vo QTY: (4)
* Worsley (Frank, 1872-1943). New Zealand sailor and explorer who served on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition 1914-1916, as Captain of Endurance. Autograph Letter Signed, 'Lieut F. Worsley RNR / (Commanding S.Y. Endurance)', Buenos Aires, October 1914, to [Percy] Home, apologising for the lateness in replying and thanking him for his 'very handsome present of a volume of the Sphere, and the copies of the Sphere of Aug 1st & 8th. They have been very much appreciated by the Staff, Officers and myself, and I am sure the volume will be a very great boon while in the Antarctic', continuing to say that they called at Funchal, The Salvages, and Tenerife (these places underscored in black, presumably by the recipient), referring to Mr Clark who has made daily hauls of Plankton &c, continuing, 'We were boarded by Neptune crossing the Line, who performed the prescribed rites on 8 new subjects. Our Staff and Officers are an A.1 lot and are all looking forward eagerly to their work with Sir Ernest in the Antarctic', concluding that they have begun a periodical entitled The Dog Watch, 'but you needn't be alarmed that the Sphere circulation will suffer in consequence', a little minor soiling including old sellotape stain to inner margin of first page not touching any handwriting, 3 pages on the first, third and fourth page of S.Y. Endurance letterhead, 8voQTY: (1)NOTE:Percy Home, was editor of the Sphere, and Shackleton was under agreement to supply the journal with an account of the voyage to the Antarctic regions. The Endurance left Buenos Aires for South Georgia on 26 October 1914. Within three months it was marooned in pack ice and when the ship was eventually abandoned, Worsley navigated the 20-foot James Caird, with Shackleton and four others, on the 800-mile voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
Circus Broadside. Cooke's Royal Circus. The Last Week but Two. Grand Equestrian Gala!!! Thursday evening, March 14, under the Distinguished Patronage of Sir R. Howe Bromey, Bart. First Night of the Splendid Equestrian Piece, Entitled Mazeppa & the Wild Horse... , Newark: printed by E. Brooks, c. 1840, printed letterpress broadside with wood-engraved illustration of Mazeppa tied to a wild horse, minor soiling and one or two spots, 57 x 23 cmQTY: (1)NOTE:Cooke's Royal Circus (1780-1912) started as a circus show travelling around Britain in the late 18th century. It was primarily an equestrian show with over half the acts involving horses. The main act here depicted on this poster relates to the story of Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709), a significant figure in the history of Ukraine. The legend caught the attention of Lord Byron whose narrative poem, Mazeppa (1819) brought the events to wider attention. Byron's poem inspired many paintings, musical compositions, stage plays, etc. even being transposed to the American Wild West. With the independence of Ukraine in 1991, the figure of Mazepa has come to prominence once more.
* Clarke (John, 1760-1815). Licentiate in Midwifery of the Royal College of Physicians. Lectures on Midwifry on Diseases of Women & Children, &c by Doct[o]r Clarke, at No. 1, New Burlington Street, London, 1802 & 1803, by Samuel Head, manuscript lecture notes with sections on diseased menstruation, profuse menstruation, anatomy of female parts of generation and diseases thereof, physiology of generation, treatment of diseases during pregnancy, abortion, labour and difficult labours, preternatural labours, complex labours, diseases in consequence of parturition and the gravid uterus (?Mr Wilson's lectures), written in a neat hand with many rectos blank or partially completed with notes relating to facing page, index at rear with a final page on observations on puerperal fever by Dr Armstrong of Sunderland, a total of approximately 250 pages including index, mostly with folio numbers but sometimes marked with page numbers, one marginal tear with small loss (folio 18) and lower half of folio 37 torn away and missing, contemporary sheep, worn, spine broken and many gatherings and leaves detached, 8vo (195 x 125 mm)QTY: (1)NOTE:John Clarke was one of ten licentiates in midwifery at the College of Physicians. His publications include: An Essay on the Epidemic Disease of Lying-in Women, of the Years 1787 and 1788 (1788), Practical Essays on the Management of Pregnancy and Labour (1793) and the textbook, The London Practice of Midwifery, first published in 1803. Clarke gave courses on midwifery and the diseases of women and children with Dr Osborn, both at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and at his home in New Burlington Street.The student who compiled these lecture notes was Samuel Head (c. 1773-1837), a Candian doctor, merchant and judge. Head was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. but received his medical training in England and in 1803 became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of London. He moved back to Halifax where he started a practice in surgery and medicine in about 1804 where he also ran a pharmacy which had been established by his father before him.The Royal College of Surgeons of England have eleven manuscript notebooks of Dr John Clarke's lectures on midwifery kept by William Prosser, ref. MS0081/2.
* Early Aviation Ephemera. A business card for Henry & Maurice Farman Aeroplanes, with note signed by Henri Farman in pencil to verso, adhesive hinge remains to front of card without loss of text, together with a signed real photo postcard of Samuel Franklin Cody (1867-1913), 2 postcards signed by Claude Grahame-White (1879-1959), plus photographic postcards of aviators Archie Beaumont and Gustav Wilhelm Hamel (1889-1914), the first with cut ink signature pasted to image, the second with cut pencil signature pasted to lower margin of image, both postally used and sent by Margory to Charles Birnstingl in 1911, all with adhesive hinge remains to versos, together with a small collection of other early aviation and some ballooning ephemera, including 23 postcards using vignetted images from a Brownie Box camera of aircraft displays in Bristol and Hendon, 1911-12, postally unused, a small group of 14 pencil drawings of aeroplanes, an 1878 balloon ascent with Henry Giffard, showing a panorama of Paris, 1878, various engravings, cuttings and extracts, etc.QTY: (a small carton)
Edison's Phonograph. An early printed flyer for a demonstration of 'The Wonderful Talking Machine, Edison's Latest Phonograph', at Victoria Hall, Ilkley, [Yorkshire], Friday & Saturday, Sept 5th & 6th, 1890, printed by Paul Bros, Southampton, 4 pp. printed flyer on pink paper, the first page with a wood-engraved illustration showing Edison's phonograph in use in the press gallery during the Handel Festival at the Crystal Palace, further related adverts and another wood-engraved illustration on pages 2-4, torn with loss at head affecting all 4 pages, slim 8vo, together with a printed broadside for an event at Binbrook Temperance Hall, Tuesday 10 January 1888, letterpress broadside printed in red-brown, for a concert and, after the concert, Professor W.J. Jarley's 'Exhibition of his unrivalled Living Waxworks', the printed date '3rd' changed by hand to '10th', 1 page, 29 x 22 cmQTY: (2)NOTE:Introduced in 1877, Edison created a machine with two needles, one for recording and one for playback. An early piece of phonograph ephemera.The 'Living Waxworks' exhibition seems to have gained some notoriety at the end of the nineteenth century when performed by a Mrs Jarley and her son, Ebenezer Jarley. This may be a slightly earlier incarnation of the same show of tableaux vivants.
* Irish-American Political Broadsides. Speech of Robert Emmet, Esq., delivered at the Sessions House, Dublin, Philadelphia: William Smith, circa 1860s, letterpress in 4 columns with large hand-coloured lithograph vignette at head, image approximately 280 x 360 mm, some light toning, visible sheet size 62 x 45 cm, together with two related contemporary lithographic broadsides from the same publisher and printer William Smith: Protest against the British Government [and] Ireland's Illustrious Sons, the first showing Emmet flanked by angels holding rolls of names of Irish patriots including Mitchel, Meagher, O'Brien, Gavan Duffy, et al., pencil inscription to lower right blank area, visible sheet size 74 x 52 cm, the last showing the figures of Sarsfield, Grattan, Wolfe Tone, Emmet, Curran and other great Irish patriots seated around the table, small tear (25 x 20 mm) within uppermost part of image, visible image area 53 x 68 cm, all mounted QTY: (3)
* Jenner (Edward, 1749-1823). English physician and scientist, pioneer of smallpox vaccination. A George III silver snuff box by IB, Birmingham 1795, the rectangular box with engine-turned decoration and vacant cartouche, the hinged lid enclosing gilded interior, the inner lid contemporarily engraved ‘Edward Jenner to C. Fred Hausserman 1822’, 28 mm high x 78 mm wide x 41 mm deep, approximately 79gQTY: (1)NOTE:An unusual Jenner association item, though one very similar, engraved for a Thomas Croome, was sold in these rooms on 20 October 2020, lot 158.Jenner was an active Freemason, serving in 1812 as Master of the Royal Lodge of Faith and Friendship, No. 270, based in Berkeley, Gloucestershire. Christian Frederick Hausserman, Esquire, from Wirtemberg, is listed in the records as a member too, joining on 6 April 1818. A letter from Jenner to C. F. Hausserman, Esq, Ebley near Stroud, [no date], is published in Letters of Edward Jenner and Other Documents concerning the History of Vaccination (Johns Hopkins University, 1983). The editor, Genevieve Miller, says that 'Although Hausserman's identity has not been discovered, this letter leads one to speculate that he was a local surgeon' (p. 113).'My dear Sir,After so long an acquaintance you must have discover'd that I am a very impatient sort of a Gentleman. You will not be surpris'd therefore at my soliciting you to furnish me as speedily as you can, with the Ebley Case of Tic Doulereaux [trigeminal neuralgia]. I hope this may find you at home & that you will take up a bit of paper & give me a reply with as much speed as you can. Even as far as it went, until the unfortunate interference of Dr. D-- was quite enough to convince me of the power of the Pustule in regulating some of those movements of the Brain which are deranged & assume a wrong action. [This idea was developed in Jenner's pamphlet, A Letter to Charles Henry Parry … on the Influence of Artificial Eruptions (London, 1822).]I never hear anything of Mr. Cross, which is vexatious. A Pamphlet is order'd for him from Town, and if you see Mr. Jones, tell him I shall send him one the first opportunity. Great news today from Ebley House - It [tatar emetic applied exterior] seems to have had a good effect on poor Edward, as he reports himself better. I hope he will steadily persevere in a plan of diet that will prove duly nutritious without heating the Brain. With best wishes Yours my dear Sir very truly, Edw. Jenner'One of the celebrations taking place on the bicentenary of Edward Jenner's death, 26 January 2023, will be the unveiling of a new blue plaque in his honour at The Old School, Park Lane, Cirencester. This was formerly the site of Cirencester Grammar School, where Edward Jenner, (and Caleb Hillier Parry), was a pupil, c. 1757-1764. The public unveiling will take place at 12 noon.
* Lawrence (Thomas Edward, 1888-1935, attributed to). British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer, known as 'Lawrence of Arabia'. A World War One period brass marching compass, the brass casing enclosing the remains of compass card laid on mother of pearl, the base contemporarily engraved ‘Stf. CAPT. T.E. LAWRENCE’, 7.5 cm longQTY: (1)NOTE:Provenance: Warwick George Cary, ESM, MSTJ, JP (1949-2020), was an Australian medals collector, dealer and military historian. This compass was discovered among his effects but until then the family were unaware of its existence. The family subsequently found a folder with notes showing that his attempts to conclusively authenticate the compass. Among these papers, (included with the lot), are some documents and photographs relating to when the compass was loaned and used as part of a display of T. E. Lawrence artefacts exhibited alongside the the Ray Simpson V.C. Memorial Medal Exhibition, held in the Auditorium of the Paddington-Woollahra RSL Memorial Co-Operative Limited, Sydney, Australia, 17-23 March 1980. The catalogue description for the T. E. Lawrence display shows the reverse of this compass with the engraving and was catalogued as: 'A Brass Field Compass. Reverse inscribed St./Capt. T. E. Lawrence (Circa 1915)'. However, where and how Warwick acquired it, in Australia or on one of his trips to UK, is completely unknown. The compass is therefore sold as seen and not subject to return.Lawrence's ranks, real and supposed, are confusing and difficult to follow. This is a summary of some of the most salient rank information which covers the period Lawrence would most likely have had this engraved, i.e. circa 1916: 'T. G. Lawrence [sic], to be a temporary Second Lieutenant. Dated 23rd October 1914' (London Gazette, 5 November 1914). This was corrected to T. E. Lawrence on 17 November 1914; 'Temp 2nd Lt. T. E. Lawrence to be temp. Capt. whilst specially employed. 20th Mar. 1916' (LG, 18 April 1916). When Liddell Hart asked Lawrence when he became a captain, TEL replied: 'I was Staff Captain. I lost it on going to Mespot[amia], so Hedley arranged a local captaincy' (David Garnett, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, p. 85). In the London Gazette for 16 May 1916 Lawrence is listed with his full name for the first time' having been awarded the Croix de Chevalier: 'Temp. 2nd Lt. Thomas Edward Lawrence, Spec. List.' In January 1916 TEL made a list of the general staff of the intelligence section, Cairo (LG, 21 June 1916): 'I have now been made a Captain and Staff Captain again, which is amusing. It doesn't make any difference of course really, as I am never in uniform in Arabia, and nobody cares a straw what rank I hold, except that I am of Sherif Feisul's [sic] household' (TEL letter of 25 February 1917). Lawrence was advanced from Temporary Captain to Temporary Major on 5 August 1917, and now called 'Major Lawrence' (LG, 4 August 1917); appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 4 June 1917, but tells his mother 'My address is simply T.E.L., no titles please'. His name appears on a list of Staff Captains on 1st October 1917 (LG, 3 January 1918).More simply explained, TEL wrote to Robert Graves in 1927: 'Worked at G.H.Q. till 1916, ... Graded as Staff Capt. General List (actually 2nd Lieut.) Captain about 1916. Major 1917. Lt. Col. 1918. Promoted Major in order to be given C.B. for capture of Akaba. Finally graded G.S.O.1.'
* Marconi Wireless Telegraph Archive. An important archive of ledgers, committee books and notebooks for Marconi Wireless Telegraph (M.W.T.), 1897/1970s, including 28 volumes of registers of agreements, 1897/1955; 3 notebooks for meetings of directors, (in the notebook for 1927-36 Marconi has signed his name as present some 60 times); a seal book, 1920-21, with signatures of Alfonso Marconi; a minutes book, 1917-20, with further signatures of Alfonso Marconi; and a register of seals and a meeting of board directors book for Marconi (China) Ltd, 1943-1976, a total of 35 ledgers and notebooks, mostly full/half morocco or cloth, some rubbing, but generally sound and in good condition, folio/oblong folio and 8vo, plus 2 modern albums with approximately 100 photographs from Marconi Research Station at Great BaddowQTY: (37)NOTE:Contents list:Register of Agreements, 28 volumes: 1-7, 9, 11-30, 1897-1923, 1924-1925, 1925-1955, each volume 160pp. + index of handwritten entries (vol. 30 is 176pp. and typewritten), uniform original full burgundy morocco (vol. 30 cloth), oblong folioM.W.T. Co., Ltd. Special Meeting of Directors, 10 February 1927 - 24 November 1936, [136]pp., original full black limp morocco lettered gilt on upper cover, 8voMarconi was present at some of the meetings and has signed his name some 60 times. His last signature is on 26 November 1935. It also includes the signatures of all the other directors who attended the meetings. Together with 2 further notebook of meetings of the Boards of Directors London, from 1937 to 1959, signed by those present on each occasion, including J. C. Denison-Pender and F. R. S. Balfour.Seal Book. No. 10, January 1920 - April 1921, 101pp., original full burgundy morocco (uniform with Register of Agreements volumes), oblong folioEach handwritten entry is signed by several or more attesting directors and an officer including Alfonso Marconi (younger brother of Guglielmo who had helped with early experiments in Italy). The content lists documents concerning foreign patent applications, ordinary and preference share certificates, ordinary share warrants, and other business mattersM.W.T. Co. Ld. Committee Minute Book No. 6, 31 July 1917 - 5 July 1920, 242pp + blank index, tipped-in duplicated list of share certificates, original burgundy half morocco, folioShare certificate documents and patents and other business transactions signed during committee meetings, the minutes signed off by Alfonso Marconi and others.Marconi (China) Limited. Register of Seals, 8 March 1943 - 31 March 1976, 39pp. but largely blank except for 2 double pages + blank index, original burgundy half morocco, folioIncludes power of attorney agreements, share certificate transfers and other business matters. Loosely inserted is a duplicated power of attorney agreement for Ivor George Gardner to act on behalf of the company in Hong Kong, 5pp., stapled, signed by one of the directors.Marconi (China) Limited. Meeting of Board of Directors, 1943-1970, unpaginated but with first 36pp. completed from 1943 to 1970, signed by the 2, 3 or 4 directors present on each occasion, 8voMarconi Research Station at Great Baddow. Two large modern albums, 1970s, containing approximately 100 large photographs showing giant receivers in various remote parts of the world and other equipment and Marconi enterprisesGuglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) was an Italian inventor, electrical engineer and diplomat. He is known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Regarded as the inventor of radio he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with one of his closest rivals in the field, Karl Ferdinand Braun, 'in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy'. In 1897 Marconi founded the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company (later the Marconi Company). Its aim was to develop the Marconi apparatus commercially; the first manufacturing works were established in Chelmsford in an old silk factory. Over the next few years the Company rented land and buildings in London, Cornwall, North America and elsewhere. In 1901, Marconi achieved communication over 198 miles between the Isle of Wight and the Lizard in Cornwall. In December of the same year, history was made when Marconi transmitted the letter S of the Morse code (three dots) across the Atlantic from Poldhu in Cornwall to Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland. He had taken on John Ambrose Fleming, a brilliant scholar and a skilled practical engineer who had been an electrical advisor to Thomas Edison; Fleming proved invaluable at Poldhu, designing and operating the generator. One of Marconi's ambitions was to give sailors and passengers in challenging or potentially disastrous situations at sea the means to communicate - most clearly demonstrated when the 'Titanic' sank: the distress calls from Marconi's wireless installation on 'Titanic' saved 700 lives.During the 1920s, assisted by C. S. Franklin, an eminent engineer, Marconi turned his attention to short-wave directional transmissions, known as the 'Empire Beam' system. This met with a favourable response and Marconi's dream of global radio communication was established. The company was also involved in the beginnings of public broadcasting in England, the first being a recital performed by the singer Dame Nellie Melba in 1920. A couple of years later the British Broadcasting Company (later 'Corporation') was born and the population could now enjoy radio and later television in their own homes. Marconi believed that wireless would save lives and hoped it would help to bring peace to the world. Shortly before he died he was made Lord Rector of St Andrews University and was heard to say 'Have I done the world good, or have I added a menace?' What began as pioneering experiments in the Italian countryside had, in his lifetime, grown to an international company with many subsidiaries all over the world.The present important archive shows the astounding and rapid expansion of one of the world's great business enterprises in a field that has now assumed global significance - engineering, communications, wireless telegraphy, communications, electronics. The 28 volumes comprising the Register of Agreements cover company business ranging from the purchasing of patents, patent applications and licences, broadcasting licences, tenancy, land and property agreements and bank and company agreements from the very first day of business on July 22 1897. There are also agreements regarding the construction of telegraph stations, inventions, wireless equipment and hire purchase.Five of the volumes in the archive bear the multiple signatures of Guglielmo Marconi, his brother Alfonso, and those of other directors and secretaries in the Company: Henry W. Allen, W. W. Bradfield, M. A Bramston, S. Geoghegan, Godfrey C. Isaacs, Alfonso Marconi, H. Riall Sankey, Henry S. Saunders, S. St. J. Steadman and Sir Charles J. Stewart.
RMS Titanic. Proceedings before the Right Hon. Lord Mersey, with Rear Admiral the Hon. S. A. Gough Calthorpe, C.V.O., R.N., Captain A. W. Clarke, Commander F. C. A. Lyon R.N.R., Professor J. H. Biles LL.D., D.Sc., Mr. E. C. Chaston on a Formal Investigation ordered by the Board of Trade into the Loss of the S.S. “Titanic.” Transcribed from the Shorthand Notes of W. B. Gurney & Sons, 26 Abingdon Street, Westminster S.W. London, 36 Numbers, His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1912, 959 pp., one ownership inscription of Sir Ellis Cunliffe, solicitor to the Board of Trade and numerous ownership inscriptions (he writes 'Marconi' on two occasions) of G. E. Turnbull, Marconi International's deputy manager and a witness at the enquiry; No. 1 blue crayon inscription on first page, large horizontal tears affecting all leaves of text, some edge wear, blue crayon references on first page of Nos. 11, 26, 30 & 31; Nos. 2 & 3 uncorrected proofs, No. 18 final leaf loose, No. 36 small vertical tear to outer margin, bound in 36 original sewn numbers with continuous pagination, slim folioQTY: (36)
* The Wreck of the Glencairn. An original manuscript account describing the events of the wreck of the Glencairn, by apprentice seaman Colin C. Watson, c. 1907, written up after the event in a fair hand, describing the events from leaving Rochester bound for Portland, Oregon, striking a rock off Tierra del Fuego, losing two crew members and the ensuing events on shore, a little spotting and creasing, old pin to top corner, 13 pages (over 3,000 words) on 13 leaves, 4to, together with a testimonial for Colin C. Watson serving as an apprentice in the "Glencairn" and "Fifeshire" for a period of 12 months, signed by the Master, John Nichol, one page, 4to, plus a contemporary cabinet card photograph of the young Colin C. Watson in naval attire, slightly trimmed at foot of mountQTY: (3)NOTE:A harrowing eye-witness account of the wreck of the Glencairn by an apprentice on board. The Glencairn left Rochester on 9 May 1907, bound for Seattle, with twenty-five crew plus the Master's wife and child, the boat carrying 2,375 tons of cement. It struck rock off Tierra del Fuego and the party was forced to abandon ship, two crew members being lost when leaving. The letter carries on to describe Watson's version of the story until their fortuitous rescue by Lucas Bridges. Bridges gives his own account of events when he encountered the shipwrecked party in his autobiography 'Uttermost Part of the Earth' (1948). Chapter 46, pp. 463-72.Watson was to continue his naval career, serving as a P & O Captain for some thirty years. See following lot.A full transcription of this manuscript is available on request.Selected extracts:' We were to go through the Maine Strait between Hadon Island and the mainland (Tiera del Fuoga). I happened to be at the wheel at the time we were making the entrance of the strait. Suddenly a furious snow squall sprung up and the land was obliterated from view. I noticed a slight shock followed by a heavier one and say out to the Captain “We are on the ground Sir”. The next instant we had crashed upon a sunken ?, and the men came running aft in response to the shrill whistle of the First Mate summoning them. The squall was but the precursor of a typical Cape Horn Blow. Wind and sea increased rapidly and soon the decks were being swept by heavy seas which thundered over the poor old stricken ‘Glencairn’ smashing up rails, doors etc. and smashing everything moveable over the side. With terrible difficulty we succeeded in launching our two lifeboats. One was taken forward and then commenced the task of loading the boat. The Captains wife and child and the Stewardess were about to be lowered into the boat in which three men were busy fending her off the ships side when a huge sea capsized her carrying away the panels? by which she was secured to the ship. Powerless to help we saw one of our unfortunate shipmates drown before of our eyes, one man had disappeared entirely whilst the other had succeeded in clambering up on the overturned boats stern and sticking his feet in the lifelines clung desperately to the heel. He soon drifted out of sight into the whirly snowstorm.The Captain then called for volunteers to go off in the sole remaining lifeboat to attempt a rescue. The foreign element in the crew objected to this. I pleaded that it was madness to risk the lives of all in an attempt to recover one man. I pointed out that should the boat be lost we should all inevitably drown. They asked him if he wished to imperil the lives of his wife and child. He quietly replied that while there was a chance to save the man he would see that some effort was made and ordered away the boat in search. Then followed a scene which is terrible to relate. Half mad with fear and convinced of their doom they broke into a whisky case they had pilfered from the lazaretto? whilst provisioning the boats. Sea ? continues to sweep the decks and one by one they fell dead drunk their bodies washing about the decks.''The second mate explained the impossibility of landing, heavy seas and precipitous cliffs, and then for the first time did the Captains wife break down. Throughout all the previous horrors she had maintained a calm courage – an unwavering faith that God would save her and the dear ones - and now at last the appalling hours in the open boat, and the apparently hopeless possibility of being saved crushed her hitherto plucky spirit. Yet another ghastly night we spent, the vessel noticeably sinking beneath us. Early the next morning before daylight the first mate and I crawled down the fore hold? to see how the water was forward. It was a ghastly sight. Muddy dark water swishing about the hold and thousands of rats squealing with fear perched all round the slingers?. The feeble light from our lantern accentuated the horror of it - the rats did the rest. We both lost nerve and made a rush to get on deck again. When daylight broke we were labouring and wallowing in a still heavy sea and the water nearly up to our scuppers. We then launched the dinghy - a mere cockleshell - and one by one filled the lifeboat and the remainder by the dinghy. It was a dangerous business - poising oneself on the rail and then taking a flying leap into the boat.''To my astonishment I saw the Captain who was ahead of me endeavouring to make himself understood to a couple of natives. Huge fellows they were, both of them well over six feet; clad only in a guanaco skin - carrying bows and arrows, and accompanied by two exceedingly gaunt and hungry looking dogs. They were quite friendly - much to our relief – for we had understood that the natives had cannibalistic proclivities. They belonged to a wandering Tribe of Ona and their Chief being able to speak a little Argentine helped matters a lot, one of our crew being also able to speak the language. They conducted us to a gap in the cliffs and soon found ourselves at their encampment, consisting of a few wigwams and populated by about twenty natives - men women and children.''I was in the search party, going down to the shore was just in time to see our old ship break up. The foremast fell forward followed by the main. The riggers fell aft and an hour later the jigger disappeared. Then she broke up completely and by afternoon the shoreline a couple of miles was strewn with wreckage. I made an excellent “find” - a drowned hen, and a piece of salt pork which I carried in triumph to the camp. Unfortunately very little of an edible nature washed ashore. My only rival as a caterer being an A.B. who had got a dead pig.For a week we existed in this manner eking out our scanty stores with mussels and shell fish gathered on the rocks. We also killed a sea lion portions of which we ate. The natives were good to us and gave us portions of a guanaco they had shot. Our cooking was somewhat primitive. We cut sharp twigs? And sticking a piece of meat on the end held it in the fire and then holding it in our fingers gnawed the “charred” outside “raw inside” flesh. The shell fish soon became nauseous and the sodden biscuits were getting “horribly less” as the 2nd mate put it and so the Captain and his AB interpreter held a conversation with the natives. We then learnt that many miles up country lived a man named Bridges engaged in sheep farming. The 2nd mate and one AB, therefore set out with an Indian guide to endeavour to find this white man. Succour from the reward? was impossible and on the hope that these two would bring us help rested our hopes.'
* Quaker Marriage Certificate. Manuscript marriage certificate of John Martiall son of John Martiall of Lorton and Ann Fletcher daughter of Lancelot Fletcher late of Lamplugh, Cumbria, 25th June 1691, single sheet document, bearing 42 witness signatures and marks, being members of the Pardshaw Crag Meeting House, few tears to old foldsQTY: (1)NOTE:Witness signatures and marks include those of John Marshall's father & brother John; also that of Thomas Marshall, Ann Marshall, Jane Fletcher, Sarah Fletcher, Peter Head, John Robinson, Thomas Watson, Ann Watson, Mary Robinson, Thomas Tiffin, Sarah Tiffin, Peter Head and Priscilla Hall etc. The marriage certificate was formerly the property of the Rev. Cooper Abbs (1738-1800) and passed by descent to Kathleen Cooper Abbs, where it was aquired by the present owner from her estate.Quakers originally met for worship in the open air on Pardshaw Crag, a few hundred metres to the north-west of the current Pardshaw Crag meeting house, from the 1650s until 1672; George Fox attended meetings there in 1657 and 1663. In winter, Friends also met in houses at Pardshaw, Lamplugh, Whinfell and Eaglesfield. In 1672 the meeting moved to a purpose-built building, the site of which has not been identified, but it is believed to have been situated in a field to the north-west of the present meeting house. The present L-plan meeting house that replaced it was constructed in 1729 on a rectangular plot called The Guards in Pardshaw Hall. In 1731 an adjacent stable block was built; which incorporates a lintel dated 1672, which is said to have come from the first meeting house.
* Holy Land Panoramas. A ten-part panorama of Jerusalem, c. 1920, folding collotype, in original printed wrappers, image 14 x 220 cm, together with 2 similar, larger panoramas of Nazareth and Bethlehem, both c. 1920, the first five parts, 23.5 x 180 cm, the second in four parts, 23.5 x 160 cm, both with printed key loose and present at rear, original printed wrappers, a little soiling and wear, oblong folioQTY: (3)
* India. Souvenir Album Descriptive of the Indian Tour of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, November 1905 to March 1906, Madras: Higginbotham & Co., [1906], numerous collotype plates from photographs by Wiele & Klein, letterpress leaves heavily spotted and very minor worming to lower margins of first few leaves not affecting text, original half roan over cloth, gilt-titled upper cover, rubbed, some loss at head of spine, small oblong folioQTY: (1)
* India. A group of 3 photograph albums of India, c. 1880s/1930s, the first album containing approximately 60 albumen and gelatin silver prints of views and scenes including British and Indian groups, images 22 x 29 cm and smaller, mounted to rectos and versos of stiff card leaves with sporadic pencil annotations to mounts, the second album containing over 100 largely uncaptioned gelatin silver print photographs including river scenes with elephants, British residences, etc., mostly mounted to rectos, the third album late 1920s/early 1930s, containing over 200 mounted mostly medium and small-format gelatin silver prints including initially some India interest and 5 platinum prints of the Khyber Pass by R.B. Holmes, some white china ink captions to mounts, various bindings, folio/oblong folio QTY: (3)
Manchuria. Japanese Cultural Travel Guide to Manchuria, c.1934, portrait illustration of Emperor Puyi, holding colour plate (defective) and eighty-five (of eighty-six, lacking plate one), numbered mostly black and white collotypes from photographs, lacks first plate, each plate with facing leaf of letterpress in Japanese and English, original pictorial cloth with spine tie, heavily rubbed, oblong 8vo, together with a contemporary Japanese photo book of views in Tokyo, c. 1930s, eighty black and white collotypes from photographs with printed captions in English and Japanese at foot, bound concertina-style with images on both sides, a little soiling and ink numbers to lower right corners, original patterned cloth over boards with printed paper label, rubbed and some wear, small oblong folioQTY: (2)
HANDWRITTEN LETTER FROM EDWARD VIIIon St James's Palace headed paper dated 25th January 1921; and an original Wallis Windsor original signed photograph, both with The Westminster Collection certificate of authenticity; together with two First Day Covers commemorating the Wedding of Edward VIII and Wallis Warfield on 3rd June 1937
A necklace with detachable pendants, omega style necklace, length 32cm, width 8mm, unhallmarked, stamped '14KT', with two detachable pendants, first; a tapered crossover channel set with seventeen graduating baguette cut diamonds, estimated approximate total diamond weight 0.70ct, length 3.2cm, width 1.5cm, unhallmarked, stamped '14K'; second, a tapered bar set with ten graduating round faceted emeralds and twenty two round brilliant cut diamonds, estimated approximate total diamond weight 0.33ct, length 2.1cm, width 1.2cm, unhallmarked, stamped '14KT', gross weight 65.2g (2)
A suite of emerald and diamond jewellery, first, a cluster style ring set with an oval faceted emerald, estimated approximate weight 1.00ct, surrounded by eight tapered baguette cut and twelve round brilliant cut diamonds (one tipped on its side), estimated approximate total diamond weight 0.25ct, size M, unhallmarked, stamped '14K'; second, a pair of matching ear studs, unhallmarked, stamped '14K'; third, a bracelet with eleven claw set oval faceted emeralds, estimated approximate total weight 3.60ct, length 16½cm, unhallmarked, stamped '585, gross weight 17.6g (3)
Tacy Watch Company, La Chaux-de-Fonds - A 9ct gold 'Admiral' open faced pocket watch, circa 1923, the unsigned white dial, 43mm diameter, with black Roman numerals, blued spade and whip hands, subsidiary seconds register at 6 o'clock and chemin de fer chapter ring, signed but unnumbered 21 jewel mechanical crown wind movement marked U.S.A. PAT. MAY.24.1904 with onion shaped winder, case, 'Regular' by Dennison, 50mm diameter, verso hinged at 6 o'clock, plain and polished, interior numbered 264897, with Birmingham hallmarks for 9ct gold, the cuvette similarly marked with additional presentation engraving, 90.3g grossThe Tacy Watch Company was the result of the merger of two watch houses - Tavannes and Cyma. The first two letters of both brands were joined together to create the new name. Cyma continued to produce watches under its own name and it appears that Tacy was one of many subsidiary companies of the brand.
Unsigned - A military issue open faced pocket watch, circa 1939, the sterile black dial, 41mm diameter with (originally) luminous Arabic numerals and hands, subsidiary seconds register at 6 o'clock and chemin de fer chapter ring, 15 jewel mechanical crown wind movement decorated with 'The Côtes de Genève' with onion shaped winder, case, 51mm diameter, verso snap on, engraved with pheon mark and G.S.T.P. 108001After the First World War, the British Armed Forces were slow to modernise, and when war looked likely again in 1939, the War Department found themselves ill prepared. Generic pocket watches which met MOD standards were hurriedly purchased by the procurement office from a number of Swiss makers and commercial retailers in anticipation of future shortages. Most of these timepieces were regarded as ‘General Service’ timepieces as they had no particular specialist features and were classified as ‘Temporary (or 'Trade') Pattern’ (GSTP) until more appropriate or specialist watches became available to the army in sufficient numbers. The additional number engraved under the letters referred to the issue number of the timepiece, which would have been noted in the paybook of the soldier to whom it was issued.
Cabot Watch Company - A steel UKSF Mark I 'SBS- SP' military issue wristwatch head, circa 1993, the signed black dial, 32mm diameter, with Tritium indicator, luminous batons, narrow minute marks and luminous sword shaped hands, centre sweep and day/date window at 3 o'clock, 7 jewel ETA quartz movement calibre 955.122 under a protective metal cover with screw down crown, matte black non-reflective case, 41mm diameter (45mm including crown), fixed wire lug bars, 60 click unidirectional rotating division 60 bezel with thin hash marks and small lume pearl, verso screw down, engraved 0555/6645-99 7995443, pheon mark, SP, presented without strapFor decades, major Swiss watch brands, such as Rolex and Omega, had produced special versions of their diving watches for military use. However, by 1980 these brands had become legends and the budget conscious British Ministry of Defence (MOD) were forced to look for a less expensive alternative.The London based Cabot Watch Company was a military-only supplier which had already been providing the British military with field watches since 1972. They were approached by the MOD with a request to produce military specification diving watches similar to the Omega Seamaster 300, a watch they had purchased in previous years. Officially listed as the UKSF watch and first produced in 1987, this CWC example was nicknamed ‘SBS’ as it was originally designed to the specifications of the Special Boat Service, the British Royal Navy’s elite Special Forces unit. It has been suggested that special forces operatives wanted a non-reflective black metal finish for night time operations - possibly inspired by the Royal Marines based in Hong Kong who had their issued steel Royal Navy dive watches black-coated locally - and that the day-date function was because they often spent considerable amounts of time on missions and found it helpful to keep track of the days. The original versions are very rare. Only 100 were manufactured in the first batch, and only a handful are still known to survive. More batches were manufactured throughout the 1990s, including this example, and were issued to the SBS, SAS boat crews and other specialist units.In 2000, the decision was made to phase out the RN dive watch and make the SBS the standard dive watch for the British military, and several hundred were ordered in 2001 and 2005, including a large batch for the Royal Engineers.Only CWC produced the black day-date dive watch for the British military. For this reason, as well as for its link to British Special Forces, issued versions of this watch are highly sought-after by collectors. The NATO numbers engraved to the back of this example relate to:0555 - produced between 1993 – 2001 (approximately 750 units produced during this period)6645 - NATO stores code for military watch99 - UK issue7995443 - Steel quartz SBS day/date dive watchpheon or broad arrow mark indicates government issueSP - This replaces the usual date reference. There is some speculation about the letters, but it is generally accepted to refer to special order runs from the 1990s with SP standing for Special Project, Special Procurement or Special Purchase. The theory is that they were limited quantity customised batches made up to order for small specialist units within the British military. There is much speculation about the identity of these individual units, but regrettably no firm evidence.(With grateful thanks to Jonathan Hughes - CWC addict - for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot)
Breitling - A gold plated on steel 'Navitimer' wristwatch, circa 1964, model number 806, serial number 978312, the signed circular 'reverse panda' dial, 38mm diameter, with twin jet logo, gold coloured batons and hands and gold coloured chronograph sweep, three 'small size' subsidiary dials recording running seconds and chronograph minutes and hours, outer tachymeter scale and bi-directional slide rule with milled edged bezel, signed mechanical crown wind chronometer rated 17 jewel Venus 178 movement, import code 'WOG', (for Wakmann), case, 40mm diameter, gold-plated with start/stop and reset pushers above and below the liveried crown, verso steel, snap on, signed and numbered 806, interior numbered 978312, to a signed black leather padded strap with white stitching and liveried steel pin buckle One of watch-making's most important historic chronograph models, the original 806 Navitimer set the template for modern technical pilot’s watches. Billed as a wrist-sized computer when it was first developed in 1952, the rotating bezel had the ability to compute distance travelled, flight time, airspeed and remaining fuel consumption, due to the integration of a slide rule.In 1956, Breitling introduced the Venus 178 manually-wound chronograph movement which would continue to be used until the early 1970s. Eight years later, Breitling changed the dial layout of the Navitimer, most likely adapting to changing tastes and increasing legibility in low-light conditions. The now-iconic “reverse panda” configuration with black dial and white subdials was introduced in 1963 and in 1964 - the bezel edge changed from a bead edge to a milled edge. Another stylistic change was the introduction of the “twin jet” logo, with ‘Breitling Genève’ below.With the majority of cases produced in stainless steel, a small number were produced with gold-plated cases, and an even smaller number in 18ct gold.The iconic Breitling Genève Navitimer 806 still remains today near the top of virtually every vintage watch collector's wish list.
Breitling - A steel 'Co-Pilot' chronograph wristwatch, circa 1969, model number 7650, serial number 1278074, the signed circular 'reverse panda' dial, 36mm diameter, with luminous batons and hands and centre chronograph sweep, subsidiary running seconds register at 9 o'clock, hours at 6 o'clock and 15 minute register at 3 o'clock, signed 17 jewel mechanical crown wind column wheel Venus chronograph movement number 37-16, calibre 178 TJ, with start/stop and reset pushers above and below the liveried crown, case, 42mm, black division 12 bezel, verso screw down, signed and numbered 7650 127804, interior signed, to an aftermarket black nylon NATO style strap with gilt pin buckleProvenance:Formerly the property of a British Olympic marathon runner.The Navitimer, arguably Breitling’s most famous creation, is often described as the ultimate wrist-worn instrument for pilots, enabling them to complete all manner of calculations with its rotating slide-rule. However, pilots also need a robust and functional chronograph to time any event and easily read the time on their wrists while holding the control column.In the early 1950s, and with that in mind, Willy Breitling designed a new chronograph to complement the Navitimer, and chose a name that perfectly reflected the concept - the Co-Pilot. The first Co-Pilot was launched in 1953.In addition to the standard chronograph, the sub-dial at 3 o’clock features a 15 minute counter – the standard time allowed for an aeroplane ground check before take-off.This Breitling Co-Pilot ticks all the boxes for the vintage chronograph collector, including the sought after 'reverse panda' dial (black dial with white sub-dials).Crystal - Complete and secure. Multiple scratches all over, some quite deep, together with some crazing, particularly to the centre area.Dial - Generally in good condition. Some minor staining and deterioration of the lume to the batons and hands, more noticeable under magnification. A very minor mark to the dial at the bottom of the 11 o'clock baton and between the 4 and 5 o'clock batons, both visible under magnification.Case - Generally in good condition with just the usual 'wear and tear' surface scratches. The bezel does not rotate.Movement - Appears to be in full working order, though untested for timekeeping and endurance. The chronograph operates satisfactorily, the pushers work well, and the sweep flies back to 12 o o'clock when reset.
Omega - A steel 'Chronostop' flyback chronograph wristwatch, circa 1969, model number 146.009, the signed two tone grey dial, 28mm diameter, with silvered batons, (originally) luminous hands, centre orange chronograph sweep and date window at 3 o'clock, signed 17 jewel mechanical crown wind movement, calibre 920, number 28847770, with crown positioned at 4 o'clock and start/stop/reset pusher at 2 o'clock, original plexiglass crystal with liveried centre, case, 35mm diameter, verso screw down, plain and polished, interior signed and numbered 146.009 146.100, to an aftermarket steel bracelet with slide through claspOmega first released the Chronostop in 1966 and it was well regarded within the watch industry - it won the 1967 Honor Prize for “Chronographs and Sport Watches”, sponsored by the Swiss Watchmaking Federation and it also took the first prize for Industrial Aesthetics at the Utrecht Spring Fair in 1968.It was selected as the official Omega timer at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg and the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. The Mexico Olympics version used the cal.920 movement with the date function and leather strap, the same model as this example.Unlike conventional chronographs that record seconds, minutes, and hours with two or three subdials, the Chronostop was designed to be used for short interval timing -- less than one minute -- with a sweep hand for seconds and a single pusher. Pressing the pusher starts the timing hand, pressing again and holding stops the hand, and releasing will set the hand 'flying back' anticlockwise to the 12 o’clock position rather than completing a full rotation of the dial.
Omega - A steel 'Seamaster Cosmic' wristwatch, circa 1968, model number 166.00022, the signed circular black 'crosshairs' dial, 30mm diameter, with silver coloured batons and hands, centre sweep and date window at 3 o'clock, signed 24 jewel mechanical automatic movement number 26454238, calibre 565 with liveried crown and two piece stem, cushion shaped unishell case, 34mm wide, front loading, verso liveried and numbered with hippocampus logo, interior liveried and numbered, to a Milanese style slightly tapering bracelet with signed and liveried fold over clasp number 27 ref 1120/116During the late 1960s and 1970s, Omega produced a series of timepieces under the “Seamaster Cosmic” name, which sought to capitalize on Omega’s NASA/space travel heritage and breathe new life into their Seamaster collection with casual and dress watches that embraced a more modern and futuristic design. These were produced in many different styles and configurations, but the general theme of the Cosmic revolves around cushion-shaped cases and simple dials that either have “crosshair” markings, as this example, or chequered minute tracks.The first series were produced with ‘unishell’ or one-piece cases, as this example, with access to the movement only available through the front. Later versions, including the Cosmic 2000, were produced with the more traditional two-piece case. Despite being marketed under the ‘Seamaster’ range, the Cosmic only had a water resistance of 30m - trading water resistance for style and design.The early Cosmics have now become a much sought-after collector’s item.
Patek Phiilippe - An 18ct gold and diamond set 'Gondolo' wristwatch, circa 2011, reference number 4868R-001, the signed square silver/grey dial 14mm wide, with rose coloured quatre Roman numerals and hands, signed and liveried 6 jewel quartz movement number 3309587, calibre E15, the crown with facetted diamond endstone, case, 28mm wide, front bezel pavé set with 56 round brilliant cut diamonds, corner edges each pavé set with 6 round brilliant cut diamonds, total diamond weight given as 0.83ct, verso with four screws, plain and polished, with convention and Swiss mark for 18ct gold, Chaux-de-Fonds, additionally marked PPCo within an oval stamp, and 750, interior signed and liveried, numbered 4364898 4868 together with Poinçon de Maître: Hammer Head number 357 for Calame & Cie SA, to the original black strap with quick release lug bars, the pin buckle with convention and Swiss mark for 18ct gold, Geneva, additionally marked PPCo within an oval stamp, and 750, presented with an additional white alligator strap, original receipt dated 12/03/2011 for £12,330, original case with liveried material cover, brown leather liveried wallet containing instructions and other information booklets and certificate of origin The Gondolo collection was named after the famous retailer in Rio de Janeiro, Gondolo & Labouriau, with whom Patek Philippe enjoyed a strong and successful business relationship between 1872 and 1927. This bond resulted in the creation of timepieces - designed exclusively for the Brazilian retailer - named the “Chronometro Gondolo”. The collection initially consisted only of pocket watches, before the first wristwatches appeared in the 1920s.At a time when Europe struggled with lean years and faced a World War, it was Gondolo & Labouriau alone who retailed close to a third of the entire production of Patek Philippe watches. Sales were so spectacular that in Brazil, 'Patek' even became a substitute for the noun 'watch'; instead of buying a watch, you bought a Patek - even if it wasn’t a Patek Philippe at all.Dear Mr CanertYour registration was declined due to a block from Paul Beighton Auctioneers ltd in Dec 2019. Please can you advise why this block was put in place?With kind regardsCheffins Fine Art
Patek Philippe for Beyer, Zürich - An 18ct gold 'Calatrava' wristwatch, circa 1984, model number 3744-1, serial number 1500316, the tandem signed circular white dial, 28mm diameter, with black Roman numerals and blued hands, signed and liveried 6 jewel quartz movement decorated with 'The Côtes de Genève', number 1500316, calibre E26 with liveried crown, case, 33mm diameter, hobnail bezel, side with convention mark and Swiss mark for 18ct gold, Geneva, verso snap on, brushed finish, interior signed and numbered 3744 1 2767762 together with convention and Swiss mark for 18ct gold and Poinçon de Maître: Key of Geneva number 1 for Ed. Wenger SA, to an integral slightly tapering mesh link bracelet terminating in a liveried three stage fold over clasp with safety catch, overall length 18.5cm, gross weight 79.5g The mid 1970s saw the start of the ‘quartz revolution’ for the world’s watch industry, and Japan initially led the way in terms of expertise, innovation and more importantly, sales.The Swiss watch industry reacted by introducing quartz models of their own and many proudly displayed the word ‘quartz’ on the dial to show potential buyers they were buying the very latest technology. Rolex, for example, introduced the ‘Oysterquartz’ and the wording on the dial of this example also shows buyers that this prestige watch contains a quartz movement.As buyers retuned to the mechanical versions of these Swiss watches, companies started removing the word ‘quartz’ from the dial, and today it is rarely seen on timepieces of this calibre. It is not uncommon for retailers to add their own branding to watch dials, as with this example. Chronometrie Beyer is an exclusive watch retailer located in the heart of Zürich in Switzerland. The partnership between Patek Philippe and Beyer is a long standing one, and in 2011 Beyer opened the first retailer-managed Patek Philippe boutique in Switzerland.
Two gem set crescent brooches, the first set with a line of fifteen graduating brilliant cut diamonds, diameter from 1.4 to 2.9mm, estimated approximate total diamond weight 0.50ct, all held within cut down settings, diameter 2.5cm, pin and roller catch fitting, unmarked, tested as 9ct gold and silver, weight 4.4g; the second set with an outer line of round faceted rubies and an inner line of brilliant and single cut diamonds, diameter 2.3cm, pin and roller catch fitting, unmarked, tested as 9ct gold, weight 3.2g (2)
A trio of early 19th century silver snuffboxes, each of rectangular concave form, decorated all over with engine turned engraving and with piano hinged flush fitting cover and gilded interior; the first with mark of Joseph Taylor, Birmingham 1826, the cover with an oval monogrammed cartouche, 6 x 3.5cm, 1ozt; the second with mark of T. Simpson & Son, Birmingham 1818, the cover with a vacant oval cartouche, 5.5 x 3cm, 0.7ozt; the third with mark of John Bettridge, Birmingham 1820, 5 x 3cm, 0.6ozt (3)
Two 19th century silver vinaigrettes and a silver snuff box, the first vinaigrette with mark of David Pettifer, Birmingham 1855, of rectangular scalloped edged form, decorated all over with cross-check engine tuned engraving around a vacant escutcheon shaped cartouche, part marked piano hinged cover and gilded interior with hinged and decoratively pierced grille, suspension loop to the top, 3 x 2cm, 0.4ozt; the second vinaigrette with mark of Lea & Clark, Birmingham 1825, of rectangular form, decorated all over with decorative bright cut engraving, part marked piano hinged cover and gilded interior with hinged and pierced grille, 2.5 x 2cm, 0.3ozt; the snuff box, Birmingham and duty marked, other marks indecipherable, of rectangular form, reeded decoration all over, piano hinged cover with applied cast foliate thumbpiece, gilded interior, 7 x 3cm, 1.3ozt (3)
Two George III silver vinaigrettes, both with mark of Samuel Pemberton, the first, Birmingham 1802, silver gilt and of rectangular pendant form, the underside with bright cut engraved border around a central bright cut foliate motif, piano hinged cover with quilted decoration, suspension loop and ring to the top, interior with decorative hinged filigree grille, 3 x 2.5cm, 0.6ozt; the second, of octagonal form, sides and underside with bright cut engraved decoration, piano hinged cover with three dimensional decorative engraving, gilded interior with pierced and hinged grille, 2 x 1.5cm, 0.2ozt (2)
A suite of ruby and diamond jewellery, first, a cluster style dress ring, set with thirteen marquise and pear shaped rubies and nine round brilliant cut diamonds, size P, unhallmarked, stamped '14KT'; second, a bracelet set with marquise and round faceted rubies (one lacking), trigger clasp (stamped '375') length 18.5cm, unmarked, tested as 18ct gold; third, a pair of ear studs, each set with seven marquise rubies and six round brilliant cut diamonds, length 1.5cm, post and scroll fittings (one scroll lacking), unmarked, tested as 18ct gold, gross weight 12.1g (3)
A trio of silver mounted ram's horn snuff mulls, each probably Scottish and of traditional form with unpolished interior; the largest with silver collar and hinge, the cover with a silver boss engraved with a monogram, the side with a circular presentation engraved cartouche dated 1797; second, silver collar double struck with untraced mark (IO within a rectangular shaped cartouche), hinged cover with engraved silver cartouche; third, silver collar double struck with untraced mark (ACF within a rectangular shaped cartouche), unusual ball hinge and silver cover, the side with a vacant shield shaped cartouche (3)Snuff has been kept in a wide variety of containers since the start of its popularity in the 17th century - the most common being the traditional snuff box. In Scotland, however, the mull (from a Scottish dialect word for 'mill', as the tobacco would have been ground to a powder) was particularly popular.Although snuff was traditionally made from ground tobacco, much Scottish 'snuff' was actually dried sneezewort which was used in traditional medicine. The powder was known as 'sneeshin'. Usually fashioned from ram's horns and often fitted with silver mounts and gemstones, the pocket mull - as these examples - was for personal use, although communal table mulls were also popular and were large and impressive pieces. Many were made by coopers who had the necessary skills and tools for steaming the horn and forming the hinges.1 - Surface crack to the horn on the cover, and the horn loose in the setting. Setting edge a little rough. Cover lacking the cork stopper. Vertical crack to the horn body to the left of the presentation plate running from the rim approximately 30mm long. Some surface scratching to the silver areas, as to be expected.2 - Hinge cover slightly strained, so the cover does not fit tightly. Some surface scratches to the silver area, as to be expected.3 - Cover detached from the body due to a failed solder joint between the collar and the hinge section. Horizontal surface crack to the horn body to the inner of the first curl of the horn. Some surface scratches to the silver areas, as to be expected.
Two Victorian silver mounted horn spirit flasks, both of conical form, the first with mark of Williamson & Horton (John Henry Williamson & John Spinks Horton), London 1868, bayonet fitting cap with gadroon rim and safety chain, 6cm diameter at the base, 24cm high; the second with mark of Chawner & Co. (George William Adams), London 1880, with bayonet fitting captive cap, 5.5cm diameter at the base, 24cm high (2)1 - Bayonet fitting works well. Some surface scratches to the silver areas, as to be expected. Horn appears in good condition and free of damage. Glass bottom appears secure and free of damage. Hallmarks a bit rubbed but readable.2 - Bayonet fitting works well, though a little loose. Some surface scratches to the silver areas, as to be expected. Horn appears in good condition, though somewhat 'dry' and lacking the lustre of the other example. 'Tortoiseshell' bottom appears secure and free of damage. Hallmarks a bit rubbed, but readable.
A trio of silver writing implements, the first, a silver pencil holder, mark of Sampson Mordan, London 1890 (? date letter rubbed), additionally signed MORDAN & CO., the body, hexagonal in cross-section, sliding action with thumbpiece and suspension ring, overall length 8cm; the second, a propelling pencil, apparently unhallmarked, the slim tubular body with engine turned decoration around a vacant rectangular cartouche, applied clip, the collar marked STERLING SILVER, twist action, overall length 11cm; the third, a silver combined dip pen, pencil and knife, mark of Joseph Adelman, Birmingham 1871. the slim tubular body with presentation engraving and two scroll edged rectangular cartouches, sliding action with thumbpieces for the pen and pencil, terminal with hinge for the folding knife, overall length 8.5cm (3)
Two propelling pencils, both with mark of Sampson Mordan, the first with London hallmarks for 9ct gold, 1929, the slim tubular body with engine turned decoration around an engraved rectangular cartouche, part marked clip additionally stamped RD. 683188, the collar marked MORDAN EVERPOINT PATENT 179005, twist action, overall length 14cm, 20.4g gross; the second, apparently unhallmarked but signed together with the company's arrow mark for 10ct gold, the body, hexagonal in cross-section and with engine turned decoration around a vacant rectangular cartouche, sliding action with collar and bloodstone terminal, overall length 9.5cm (closed) - 12cm (open), 18.8g gross (2)
Two George III silver pap boats, both of simple, traditional form with reeded rim, the first with probable mark of Robert Hennell I & Samuel Hennell, London 1817, with turned thumbpiece and gilded interior, 13cm long, 2.1ozt; the second with possible mark of John Sidaway, London 1794, with raised thumbpiece, 11cm long, 2.3ozt (2)1 - Hennell? - No obvious sign of repair. Some minor surface scratches to be expected, together with some dents and dings, particularly around the base of the bowl. Except for the maker's mark, hallmarks clear and readable. Gilding a little worn around the rim.2 - Sidaway? - No obvious sign of repair. Some minor surface scratches to be expected, together with some more obvious dents and dings all over, particularly around the base of the bowl. Except for the maker's mark, hallmarks clear and readable.
Two Victorian silver fruit dishes, the first with mark of John Millward Banks, Birmingham 1896, 28 x 23cm, the second with mark of William J Holmes, Birmingham 1898, 31 x 22cm, both of navette form with decoratively pierced sides repoussé scrolled rims and repoussé shell, scroll and foliate fields, 19.7ozt gross (2)
A Victorian silver punchbowl, mark of Sibray, Hall & Company (Frederick Sibray & Job Frank Hall), London 1888, of traditional circular form, lavishly decorated with repoussé foliage and scrolls over a textured ground with two cartouches, each between winged classical figures, the first engraved PRESENTED TO EDWARD ARTHUR COLEBROOKE ESQ., BY THE VILLAGERS OF ABINGTON, CRAWFORD AND CRAWFORDJOHN ON THE OCCASION OF HIS MARRIAGE 17TH JUNE 1889, the second with an engraving of Abington House, Lanarkshire, two applied cast lion mask and ring handles, scalloped and decorated rim, interior gilded with removable copper liner, raised on a similarly decorated pedestal foot, 26cm diameter, 18cm high, 48.9ozt excluding the linerEdward Arthur Colebrooke, 1st Baron Colebrooke, GCVO, PC, DL (12 October 1861 – 28 February 1939), known as Sir Edward Colebrooke, Bt, from 1890 to 1906, was a British Liberal politician and courtier. He served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms under H. H. Asquith and David Lloyd George between 1911 and 1922He married Alexandra Harriet Paget, daughter of General Lord Alfred Paget, on 17th June 1889. They had one son (who died in 1921) and two daughters. He died in February 1939, aged 77, when the baronetcy and barony became extinct. Lady Colebrooke died in 1944.Overall in good condition with no obvious sign of damage or repair. Some minor surface scratches as to be expected Hallmarks and engraving clear and crisp. Handles fully operational. Gilding inside, a little worn. Liner a snug fit.
A pair of George V vermeil goblets, mark of the Goldsmiths' & Silversmiths' Company, London 1927, each bowl with wide textured central band around two crested cartouches, upper and lower rim polished, upper rim engraved EX DONO GULIELMI RIDGES ARMIGERI 1670, knopped column and raised on a similarly decorated pedestal foot, the rim engraved 1927. COPY OF RIDGES CUP PRESENTED TO COMMEMORATE THE FIRST CHARTER GRANTED TO THE SKINNERS COMPANY 1327, 10cm diameter at the rim, 22cm high, 29.8ozt gross (2)Overall in good condition with no obvious sign of repair. Both stand firm on a flat surface with no wobble. Hallmarks and engraving clear and readable.1 - Gilding in good order (possibly re-gilded at some point). A small bruise to the side of the bowl. Some minor surface scratches as to be expected.2 - Some wear to the gilding, particularly over the textured areas. Some minor surface scratches as to be expected.
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