A miniature Victorian safe formerly in the collection of Alfred Langton Markham, the managing director of Chubb Locks, will feature at Chilcotts Auctioneers on June 10 in Honiton.
The saleroom believes the safe was exhibited at the Glasgow International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry in 1888. A bronze medal was found inside, awarded to one R Thompson for a Special Exhibition. It seems the safe was made to show off the locksmith’s skills – its complex locking mechanism can be seen by opening the inside cover.
It was acquired by Markham when the Chubb museum was dispersed during the last century, and has been consigned to the sale by Markham’s son.
Estimate £400-600.
chilcottsauctioneers.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
A pair of paintings attributed to the studio of American folk artist Anna Mary Robertson (1860-1961) is going under the hammer at Staffordshire auction house Cuttlestones on June 8-9.
Known by her nickname ‘Grandma Moses’, Robertson began her painting career aged 78 and went on to become one of America’s most renowned folk artists.
Pictured here is a farmstead scene catalogued as ‘circle of Grandma Moses’, with figures, animals and a Texas flag flying from a barn with oil wells beyond.
The unsigned 13 x 8in (33 x 21cm) oil on card is indistinctly inscribed to the bottom left and is estimated at £800-1200.
cuttlestones.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
This Art Nouveau Della Robbia earthenware green-ground charger, with stylised sgrafitto peacock designs, will feature in Wokingham Auctions’ June 10 sale in Berkshire.
Marked Shirley and 16in (41cm) in diameter, it was designed by John Cecil Shirley and dates to 1905.
It is estimated at £300-600 and will be offered alongside three other lots of Della Robbia.
wokinghamauctions.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
A George Chinnery (1774-1852) drawing of Bengal in India is going under the hammer at Chiswick Auctions in London on June 13.
Figures and cattle before thatched huts, Bengal, India is a 5 x 7in (11.5 x 17.5cm) pen and ink with blue wash and is inscribed in the artist’s shorthand with a cross.
One of the foremost European artists based in Asia in the first half of the 19th century, Chinnery spent much of his long career largely in India and southern China producing a range of portraits, landscapes and street scenes in oil, watercolour and pencil.
Estimate £500-700.
chiswickauctions.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
