Known as a waseisei or wasekaseka, this early Fijian whale tooth necklace is composed of numerous curved teeth that have been pierced and threaded onto twisted fibre.
Whales’ teeth were prized by the Fijians, with these elaborate, labour-intensive necklaces worn by Fijian chiefs in the mid-to-late 1800s.
This example shown above is estimated at £500-700 in John Nicholson’s sale in Haslemere, Surrey, on December 14.
Opening presents with Great Aunt Millicent is the title of a timely 2ft 5in x 22in (75 x 56cm) oil on paper by British artist Ophelia Redpath (b.1965).
Dated 2005, the unframed work features gold paint and is guided at £500-700 in Cheffins’ Interiors auction in Cambridge on December 14.
This watercolour by Alice Havers (1850-90) of a caged canary singing to a young girl purportedly hung on the walls of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s (1832-98) rooms at Christ Church College in Oxford.
The author, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, first met Havers in 1885, the year this work was painted.
The 10 x 5½in (25 x 14cm) pen and pencil and watercolour on wove paper depicts Lilian Morgan, the artist’s daughter. It is guided at £1500-2000 in Dominic Winter’s sale in Cirencester on December 15, and will be offered in a private collection of Lewis Carroll books which has been assembled over the last 25 years.
dominicwinter.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
This erotic compact was reputedly saved from the mud on the battlefield at Monte Casino near Rome in the Second World War.
Probably made in Vienna c.1930, the silver and enamelled compact depicts ‘Night’ or ‘Luna’ scantily clad holding a crescent moon bow, and is indistinctly stamped 935 with the makers’ mark MP or MF.
It is estimated at £400-600 in Trevanion & Dean’s sale in Whitchurch, Shropshire, on December 16.
