Coins and medal specialist Dix Noonan Webb will offer a Second World War D-Day, Gold beach naval frogman’s Distinguished Service Medal group of four at auction on July 17-18 in Mayfair, London.
The group, estimated at £6000-8000, was awarded to Able Seaman AG Hirst who took part in the initial landings of Allied forces on the coast of Normandy. Naval frogmen were the first men ashore, tasked with clearing the beaches of obstacles and mines while under enemy fire to make a safer passage for the waiting landing craft.
For the invasion of Normandy, the force commanders used approximately 120 officers and men of the LCOCU (Landing Craft Obstruction Clearance Unit), successfully disposing of thousands of obstacles.
dnw.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
This flexible collar necklace above composed of a series of candy twist design panels with platinum and diamond intervals was made by Jacques Lacloche of Lacloche Frères in c.1960.
Lacloche Frères was founded by Jacques’ father and three uncles in Madrid in 1875 and later moved to Paris where it became renowned for its Art Deco jewellery designs. Jacques had a long list of discerning clients, including Prince Rainier, for whom he created a brooch as a wedding gift for Grace Kelly.
The piece carries a £8000-12,000 estimate in a sale of jewellery and watches on July 16 at Roseberys in West Norwood, south London.
roseberys.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
The subject of the sea, and most notably its symbolic relationship with death and the hardship surrounding those whose livelihood depended on it, was a popular theme in Victorian art and drew many an artist to coastal villages. Among them was Walter Langley (1852-1922), who became the first artist to visit the coastal village of Newlyn in 1880.
From a working-class background himself, he identified with the villagers of Newlyn and the hardships they endured through his depictions of Cornish village life.
A Langley watercolour titled The Lass Who Loves A Sailor is estimated at £7000-9000 in the Charterhouse Sherborne saleroom on July 18-19.
