George II bell by Francis Garthorne, London c.1727, estimated at £7000-10,000 at Woolley & Wallis.
1. Silver-gilt bell
This 3in (7cm) silver-gilt George II bell by Francis Garthorne, London c.1727, bears the inscription One of the bells belonging to the canopy born over King George the Second at his Coronation.
It was given to the Lady Eliz Germain by her brother, the Hon George Berkeley, one of the barons of the Cinque Ports. The bell comes by descent for sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on April 19 and is estimated at £7000-10,000.
A small group of coronation bells survive today, of which the earliest example is thought to have been used at the coronation of Charles II in 1660. A similar George II bell with a later baluster handle sold at Christie’s in 2009 as part of the property of the Duke of Kent.
At the coronation of King George II, held on the October 11, 1727, the Canopy of State was carried by the members of parliament of the Cinque Ports. In his position as MP for Dover, George Berkeley was appointed as a canopy bearer.
2. ‘Lewis Carroll’ photographs
A series of photographs taken by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – aka Lewis Carroll – of one of his ‘child friends’ come for sale at Sworders, estimated to sell for around £1000 each.
A series of photographs taken by Victorian author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-98) – aka Lewis Carroll – of one of his ‘child friends’ come for sale at Sworders.
The eight images come from a descendent of the sitter, Alexandra ‘Xie’ Rhoda Kitchen (1864-1925). They were recently found in an envelope when an Essex farmhouse was being cleared.
Xie was a favourite photographic subject of Dodgson’s who photographed her around 50 times, from age four until just before her 16th birthday. She was the daughter of Rev George William Kitchen (1827-1912), one of Dodgson’s colleagues at Christ Church College, Oxford who later became the Dean of Winchester and Durham. Her mother was Alice Maud Taylor, second daughter of Bridges Taylor, the British consul in Denmark at the time.
The works, all albumen prints mostly laid down on card, are estimated to sell for around £1000 each as part of Sworders’ Books and Maps timed online sale from April 14-23. They assume a tableau format, showing the sitter in different costumes: asleep on a sofa, with a bucket and spade, wearing a fur hat and cape, dressed as a queen or as ‘a Chinaman’.
Of the approximately 3000 photographs the Alice in Wonderland author made in his life, just over half are of children.
3. Battle of Rorke’s Drift campaign medals
Alfred Saxty’s Zulu War campaign medals, estimated at £15,000-20,000 at Noonans.
Alfred Saxty was one of the last few survivors of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, synonymous in the Zulu War. His campaign pair will be offered at Mayfair saleroom Noonans on April 19. They are being sold by a collector and are estimated at £15,000-20,000.
Saxty of 2nd Battalion, 24th Foot served as a Corporal in B Company at the defence. Just 22 at the time, he was promoted to sergeant the day after the defence.
He served in South Africa from February 1, 1878, to January 12, 1880.
Saxty was confined on May 6, 1881, charged with being drunk on picquet, and sentenced by District Court Martial to be reduced to private and to 56 days imprisonment with hard labour and stoppage of pay, in addition being fined £1 and forfeited Good Conduct Pay.
He steadily regained his steps in rank to become sergeant again in December 1885 and his later service included the Mediterranean and Burma.
Saxty was admitted to In-Pension at Chelsea Hospital in 1930 but reverted to Out-Pension in October 1933 to live with his sister in Newport, Monmouthshire, and died three years later aged 77.
4. William Nicholson landscape
Landscape with Cattle in Sunshine by Sir William Nicholson, estimate £12,000-18,000 at Thomson Roddick Callan.
This oil on panel by Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) titled Landscape with Cattle in Sunshine was painted in the early summer of 1933 when the artist was staying with the Hamilton family of Rozelle House in Ayr.
It comes to the market through family descent with an estimate of £12,000-18,000 at Thomson Roddick Callan in Ayr on April 20.
5. Explorer’s snow shoes
Late 19th century snow shoes, estimated at £200-300 at Mander Auctions’ Fine Art.
Mander Auctions’ Fine Art sale on April 21-22 in Newton, Suffolk, will include this pair of late 19th century snow shoes, carved with the initials LEGO. They possibly relate to Lawrence Edward Grace Oates (1880-1912) the explorer who died during the Terra Nova Expedition as a member of Captain Scott’s group in the south pole in 1912.
According to the vendor, the shoes were removed from a barn in Gestingthorpe many years ago, which is where his father William Oates moved the family to in 1891.
Estimate £200-300.
