A sale of arms, armour and militaria at west London saleroom Chiswick Auctions on January 28 will include a c.1900 Imperial Russian Garde du Corps (GduC) officer’s helmet.
The GDuC consisted of two regiments, the Preobrazhensky and Semonovsky, and served as the tsar’s personal guard.
This 14in (36cm) high gilt copper-alloy helmet has gilt-brass fittings, an enamelled badge with motto and a giant double-headed Imperial Russian eagle crest. The lining is made with velvet, leather and silk.
Estimate £2000-2500.
chiswickauctions.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
The vendor of this pair of 14in (36cm) high Clarice Cliff vases above received them from her grandmother, who recalls purchasing them from the Staffordshire factory c.1930 on the return journey from a summer holiday in Cornwall.
In the so-called Football pattern, the pair are expected to bring £2000-3000 at Sworders’ 20th Century Design sale in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, on January 29.
sworder.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
This gilt-rimmed Royal Worcester cabinet vase above, with a flared neck and tall Art Nouveau-style angular handles, is attributed to the versatile ceramic painter Harry Davis (1885-1970).
Painted with a scene of a polar bear on a rocky ice blue ground, the unsigned 9¾in (24cm) high piece will go under the hammer at North Yorkshire saleroom Hutchinson Scott of Skipton on January 24-26.
Estimate £2500-3500.
hutchinsonscott.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
A copy of Charles de Brosses’s Histoire des Navigations Aux Terres Australes is up for auction on January 29-30 at Chorley’s of Prinknash Abbey Park near Cheltenham.
Published in 1756, the two-volume edition provides a detailed digest of all known voyages to the southern seas, preceded by a long plea for an exploration campaign in these waters.
Captain Cook took a copy of the book on his first voyage in 1768 and the term Australasia was first coined in its pages.
Estimate £2000-3000.
