1. Painted chest
The contents of a Somerset country house, untouched for 60 years, are being sold in the Charterhouse on May 5.
The Sherborne saleroom was asked to help clear the property after a family member died. Every room was “filled with Georgian and later furniture, portrait and other paintings, miniatures, naïve art, ceramics including an extensive collection of Victorian pottery nursery plates, metalwares, shells and cabinets of curios with minerals, seals and other collector’s items”.
Outside, the auctioneers discovered a late Victorian shepherd’s hut, garden urns and ornaments, all of which are also included in the auction.
Shown here (above) is a Continental painted chest with unicorns dated 1857, from the landing, estimated at £200-400.
View and bid for this painted chest via thesaleroom.com.
2. Model locomotive's cast-iron nameplate
Nameplate for the Great Western Railway Castle Class locomotive Nunney Castle - estimate £4000-6000 at Halls on May 5.
A private collection of railway memorabilia and O-gauge model steam locomotives has been consigned for the May 5 sale at Halls in Shrewsbury.
The collection includes totems, shed plates and this cast-iron nameplate for the Great Western Railway Castle Class locomotive Nunney Castle (shown top).
It is offered with the cab-side number plate and smokebox plate (5029) and estimated at £4000-6000.
The locomotive was built at Swindon Works in 1934, and takes the name of a small castle near Frome, Somerset. It was taken to the famous Barry scrapyard in south Wales in 1964 but was rescued 12 years later and restored.
View and bid for this model locomotive's cast-iron nameplate via thesaleroom.com.
3. Portrait of a Boy and Whippet
Portrait of a Boy and Whippet by Sir Godfrey Kneller and studio - estimate £4000-6000 at Olympia Auctions on May 6.
The British and Continental Pictures and Prints sale at Olympia Auctions on May 6 is the first of the series that will include consignments for the saleroom’s partnership with the Wallace Collection, Westminster Abbey and The Grange Festival fundraising initiative. A percentage from the sales will be donated the west London auction house to the above institutions.
Shown here is a painting which has been consigned for the initiative. Portrait of a Boy and Whippet by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) and studio is an oil on canvas, 2ft 7in x 2ft 1in (77.5 x 64cm), estimated at £4000-6000.
View and bid for this portrait of a boy and whippet via thesaleroom.com.
4. A Hard Days Night poster
Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night poster - estimate £500-800 at Ewbank’s on May 7.
Surrey saleroom Ewbank’s says the consignment for its upcoming single-owner film poster Michael Armstrong collection is so large that it has had to delay the auction by a week in order to complete cataloguing it.
Armstrong was the longstanding and final projectionist at The Regal cinema in Wymondham, Suffolk, before it closed in 1993. When the cinema closed, he opened his own mini replica, complete with its recycled fixtures and fittings, by converting the garage at his home. He retained all of the promotional posters and lobby cards in “first class condition”.
The 320-lot auction now on May 7 includes three posters for the Beatles films Yellow Submarine (estimate £700-1000), Help! (estimate £500-800) and A Hard Day’s Night (shown here – £500-800).
View and bid for The Beatles’ A Hard Days Night poster via thesaleroom.com.
5. 19th century wedding costume
A 19th century wedding costume - estimate £300-500 at Tennants on May 7.
The Costume, Accessories and Textiles Sale at Tennants on May 7 includes the private collection of a Suffolk Family, comprising 26 lots that belonged to numerous ancestors in the vendor’s family, dating from the early 19th century to early 20th century.
Many items belonged to a Mr Calvert, who lived in a timbered manor house and was affectionately known as ‘a wonderfully eccentric gentleman’. He never married but travelled to India and Europe, and extensively in Egypt with H Rider Haggard, who wrote King Solomon’s Mines. Indeed, Rider Haggard’s name is written in the back of an 18th century style pink silk waistcoat in the collection.
The vendor’s well-travelled family even reached Australia and China; their travels represented by textiles now up for auction.
Since the 1980s, the textiles have been stored in trunks in a barn on the vendor’s farm, each item wrapped carefully in tissue paper.
Shown here is a 19th century wedding costume made from silk brocade woven with lily of the valley, green silk trim and lace with matching brocade shoes. The costume bears a label for Colley with a Royal Warrant and is offered with an estimate of £300-500.
View and bid for this 19th century wedding costume via thesaleroom.com.
