Click on
Thumbnails
below

Description — clicking on underlined text brings up extra full size images of each piece

Stock number

A William IV silver-gilt Gentleman of the Bedchamber's key with the inital W beneath a Royal Crown and pierced end made in London in 1833 by RI.

Price: £4,995.00

Positions in the Royal bedchamber were among those of the highest importance at court, as they gave constant access to the monarch, and the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber were usually of very high rank (almost exclusively peers). Their insignia was a key (like this one) and the best illustration of one is that shown in the portrait of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough painted in around 1702 by Sir Godfrey Kneller. The Duchess, Queen Anne's friend from childhood was Mistress of the Robes from 1702 until 1710- this post was the highest female position at Court (and also the chief one during the reign of a female sovereign). As such she displays the key prominently in this portrait (the design is very similar to this example but this one carries William IV's cypher not Queen Anne's).

Very few of these keys have been recorded- two in the Royal Collection (RCIN 70442) and one, ungilt, example that came up for sale among the Orders and Decorations of General Sir Hilgrove Tomkyns Turner (1764-1843) by Dix, Noonan and Webb on 25th June 2008 (lot 602). This was the first time the key had been sold since Turner had received it as a Groom of the Bedchamber.

As this key is silver-gilt it is to be assumed it is for a higher rank- i.e. a Gentleman of the Bedchamber rather than a groom. If this is so the only person appointed in 1833 was Lord Adolphus FitzClarence (1802-1856) who was William IV's 7th child by his Mistress Dorothea Jordan. Adolphus, like his father, had a prominent naval career and rose to the rank of Admiral. He was also nominally Captain of two Royal yachts, HMS Royal George, from 1830-1843 and HMY Victoria and Albert from 1842-1853.

A George III gold-cased hair locket with a blue enamel back and hair and seed pearl decoration incorporating the initials {MAE}, in the original red morocco leather case, circa 1795 .
Price:

The locket is also accompanied by a note stating that it was given to Robert and his relationship to Maryann Ellis whose hair is on the reverse. Mary Ann Ellis was born in 1775, the only child of Thomas Ellis of Rolleston (Devon) and Margaret. She married John Houlton at St. Paul's Church, Exeter on 2nd January 1799. Houlton was the heir of Joseph Houlton of Farleigh House (now the headquarters of Bath Rugby Club) and Farleigh Castle in Somerset (now renamed Farleigh Hungerford and in the care of Heritage England) and was descended from a family of Trowbridge ironmongers who had bought the estate in 1702. Mary Ann was the mother of 15 children, of whom 12 survived into adulthood. She was widowed in 1839 and died in 1855.

A George II Malacca cane (84cm/ 33" long) with steel ferrule and 22 carat gold top with chased rococo decoration assayed in London in 1744 by IL and gold mounts on the hole for the strap crested for Jaudrill.

Price:

An Edward VII silver belt (75.5 cm long when open and weighing just over 6.5 Troy Ounces) made in Edinburgh in 1902 by Brook & Son incorporating 4 family crests (Hobart, Hampden, Mercer and Henderson) between stylised anthemions. All sections are fully hallmarked (further images are available on request)..

Price:

Sidney Carr Hobart-Hampden (1860-1930), eldest son of the 6th Earl of Buckinghamshire, inherited the family title and estates in 1885. In 1888 the Earl married Georgiana Wilhelmina (1867-1937), only daughter of Hon. Hew Adam Dalrymple Haldane-Duncan (2nd son of the 1st Earl of Camperdown) and Edith Isabella Mercer-Henderson (d. 1902). On 12th January 1903, following the death of his mother-in-law, the Earl assumed the extra surnames Mercer-Henderson by Royal Licence (presumably after inheriting her estates on her death).

This belt, undoubtedly a special commission, commemorates the combination of all the family names (with the assay year in Edinburgh like that of London not adhering to the calendar year). It must have been made for either the Countess or for the couple's eldest daughter Lady Dorothy Edith Isabel (1891-1972) who married Hon. Claude Hope-Morley (1887-1968). As there is no coronet in the decoration Lady Dorothy is possibly the more likely recipient.

An Edward VII silver-gilt key made in Birmingham in 1907 by John Fenton in original red leather case. The front of the key is engraved with the arms of the City of Rochester and the reverse with a view of the Baptist Church in Rochester (built 1907).

Price: £595.00

The Baptist Church in Rochester was built on Crow Lane and completed in 1907. It was designed by Mr. G. E. Bond of Rochester and Chatham in 'the transitional Early English style..in red bricks with Monk's Park Bath stone dressings. The roofs are covered with purple and green Welsh slates. The church with the galleries provide sittings for 540 persons. There are two vestries at the back of the church, large meeting room in basement, with lavatories on basement and ground floors'. In the article in the Bromley Journal and West Kent Herald for Friday 1st November 1907 describing the opening Bond described the building in detail (including baptistry with its 'white marble steps leading to the pleasantly warmed water. The buildings are heated by Grundy's patent hot water system'). The cost of the project was £3,800.

The church was opened by Mrs. G. H. Dean of Sittingbourne, a prominent Baptist and Kent citizen and the key she used was described as 'silver gilt... with the design of the church on one side and the arms of the city on the other. The key was enclosed in a case of red and gold, the city colours' (in which it remains).

A George III small pierced sided dish (10 cm in diameter) with gadrooned border assayed in London in 1776 by Jabez Daniell.

Price: £325.00

This dish may be a quadrille pool (used to hold gaming counters when playing the card game Quadrille). Objects of a similar to design can be found in figure 493 on page 341 of Old Sheffield Plate by Gordon Crosskey (2011).

A Victorian/Edward VII pair of leather horse accoutrements, both with applied silver badges for Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929), circa 1900.

Price: £325.00

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929) is reputed to have said that he had three aims in life: to win the Derby , to marry an heiress, and to become Prime Minister-  he went on to achieve all three. He acceded to the Earldom in 1868 having matriculated at, but not graduated from, Christ Church Oxford. He held many official posts in Scotland from the time he entered the House of Lords including being: a commissioner to inquire into Scottish endowments in 1872 and Lord Lieutenant of Linlithgowshire in 1873 (until his death). These Scottish offices continued throughout Rosebery's life as he was also Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian from 1884 (again until his death). In addition to all of these Rosebery held the Lord Rectorships of the Universities of Aberdeen (1878-1881), Edinburgh (1880-1883), Glasgow (1899-1902) and St. Andrews (1911) as well as serving as a member of the Council on Scottish Education from 1881 until his death. In 1915 he added Captain General of the Royal Company of Archers to his many titles.

In 1878 Rosebery married Hannah de Rothschild, only daughter and heiress of Amschel Meyer de Rothschild owner of Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, and from about the time of this marriage Rosebery began his British political career in earnest. From 1881 to 1883 he was Under Secretary for the Home Department, in 1885 he was Lord Privy Seal and First Comissioner of Works, in 1886 and from 1892 to 1894 he was Foreign Secretary. Rosebery reached his political pinnacle from March 1894 to June 1895 when he served as Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council (he remained leader of the Liberal party until 1898). Rosebery is the only British Prime Minister to have had horses win the Derby during his premiership.

These pieces date from between 1892, when Rosebery was created a Knight of the Garter and his death in 1929. Rosebery was unique among the Knights of the Garter, the most senior Order of Chivalry in Britain, as he was privately created a Knight of the Thistle by Queen Victoria in 1895. Others had been members of the Order of the Thistle but had to surrender it when they received the Garter.

A George III child's 22 carat gold ring (size E), made in London between 1786 and 1797 by John Hookham (registered 1792) or John Hedges (registered 1785) in associated leather case.
Price:

Until 1798 the only standard of gold to be hallmarked in Britain was 22 carat and the marks applied were the same as those for Sterling silver (showing that the piece was of the correct standard). In 1798 this system was reformed with separate marks for silver, 18 carat and 22 carat gold. Although gold rings were subject to a duty of 8s per ounce after 1784 it is rare to find surviving hallmarked rings (other than mourning rings) from the late 18th century- this is due in part to the practical difficulties of hallmarking.

A Victorian pair of flat chased individual asparagus eaters of Indian interest made in Birmingham in 1898 by Elkington & Company crested for a member of the Tata family.

Price: £195.00

The Tata family, a Parsee family originally from Surat, came to international prominence in the third quarter of the 19th century and are known to be the one of the fathers of Indian industry. What has become Tata International began as a trading company in 1868 and in 1874 they established the Empress Mill in Nagpur. By 1907 the company had diversified into steel, among many other products. By 2021 the many businesses now run by the family were reputedly worth 311 billion dollars.

An Edward VII engraved whistle made in Birmingham in 1904 by Adie and Lovekin Ltd (and also marked with a lion passant on the ring)

Price: £165.00

An Edward VII silver key (9 cm long) made in Birmingham in 1910 by Vaughton and Sons.

Price: £110.00

A George III pair of steel tweezers/ear scoop, circa 1770.
Price: £65.00

A George III Old Sheffield Plate sugar crusher with a twisted stem, circa 1790.

Price: £45.00