French gilt-metal singing bird cigarette box retailed by Finnigans of New Bond Street – estimate £1000-1500 at Bellmans.
1. Musical box
Retailed by Finnigans of New Bond Street, this French gilt-metal singing bird cigarette box is chased with floral scrolls, the hinged cover revealing a singing mechanical bird decorated with green, blue and pink feathers on a pierced gilt grille, with a drawer opening and closing in sequence with the musical mechanism.
The base is inscribed FINNIGANS NEW BOND STREET, LONDON and FRANCE, and the c.1900 box measuring 4 x 3 x 2½in (10 x 7 x 6cm), comes in a fitted leather retailer’s case with gilt-tooled monogram to the cover and winding key concealed within.
The estimate at Bellmans in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, in the August 2-5 sales series is £1000-1500.
View this singing music box via thesaleroom.com.
2. Flintlock duelling pistols
Cased pair of English flintlock duelling pistols by Joseph Gulley, London, early 19th century – estimate £4000-6000 at Halls.
This cased pair of English flintlock duelling pistols by Joseph Gulley, London, early 19th century, is estimated at £4000-6000 in Halls of Shrewsbury’s Timed Militaria Sale from July 14 to August 2.
View this pair of pistols via thesaleroom.com.
3. Silver tankard
William and Mary lidded tankard – estimate £2000-3000 at Charterhouse.
An inherited collection of ancient and modern silver is for sale at Charterhouse in the specialist sale of silver, jewellery and watches in Sherborne on August 4.
The earliest piece of silver dates from when William and Mary were on the throne. A lidded tankard of plain slightly tapering cylindrical form, assayed in London in 1692, it is estimated at £2000-3000.
View this tankard via thesaleroom.com.
4. Silver jardinières
Suite of three Victorian silver jardinières – estimate £1000-2000 at Cheffins.
Over 40 lots of silver from Wood Hall in Hilgay, Norfolk, will go under the hammer at Cheffins in Cambridge on August 4.
The estate was bought by the Stocks family in 1879 and has remained in the same family until recently, the last incumbents being the Charlesworth family, who inherited the house and land in 1974 from Major Eric Stocks.
This suite of three Victorian silver jardinières has an estimate of £1000-2000.
View these jardinières via thesaleroom.com
5. Harold Knight portrait
Harold Knight portrait of fellow artist Robert Morson Hughes – estimate £25,000-35,000 at David Lay.
The August 4 Cornish Art Sale at David Lay in Penzance includes this Harold Knight (1874-1961) portrait of fellow artist Robert Morson Hughes (1873-1953). Painted c.1915-16, it comes by descent from the sitter’s family with an estimate of £25,000-35,000.
Painting in the shadow of war in Europe, the austere portrait is a study for Knight’s 1916 Royal Academy exhibit The Council which similarly features Hughes with pint in hand.
Hughes and his wife Eleanor were fellow members of the artists’ group living in the Cornish village of Lamorna. They bought a parcel of land above the Lamorna Valley and designed and built their own home Chyangweal where (apart from a three-month loan to Penlee House in 2019) this picture has hung for over a century.
Knight’s friendship with other artists in the colony was fractured in 1916 when he received his call-up papers and took the decision not to fight.
View this Harold Knight portrait via thesaleroom.com.
