The previous tranche of a private collection had included a vesta enamelled with an early tiller-driven automobile (£4400) and three of the coveted ‘sentry box’ models, including one with an Austrian Tirol Kaiserjäger infantryman (£5500).
This recent group of late Victorian and Edwardian vestas was topped by a Sampson Mordan & Co box enamelled with a scene of shooting party in a wooded landscape possibly depicting Edward VII himself with two attendants and four dogs. Marked for Chester 1909, it sailed over a modest guide of £600-800 to bring £3000.
Combination vesta with a racing scene, Alfred Fuller, London 1887 – £850 at Dix Noonan Webb.
A rare ‘combination’ vesta enamelled with a horseracing scene was the only example not by Mordan. Incorporating a penknife, propelling pencil and button hook, it was hallmarked for Alfred Fuller, London 1887 and engraved for the retailer H Lewis, 72 New Bond Street. It took £850.
These and other examples are pictured here.
