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A 28 bore side level hammer gun by H. Holland made for Lady Randolph Churchill – mother of Winston Churchill – comes up at Gavin Gardiner’s sale at Sotheby’s in London on April 15. It dates to 1874, the year she married and gave birth to her first son Winston.  The American born Jennie Jerome, considered one of the most beautiful women of her time, married Lord Randolph Churchill at the British Embassy in Paris on April 15, 1874. Born in Brooklyn in 1854 she was the daughter of financier, sportsman and speculator Leonard Jerome. The couple became engaged within three days of their meeting, but the marriage was delayed for some months.  Winston was born on November 30, 1874.

The lock plates are lightly etched “Lady Churchill” and this is a rare example of an early gun by Holland and Holland. It is estimated at £25,000-30,000.  The auction comprises more than 200 lots of vintage sporting guns, rifles and accessories.

Lady Churchill’s gun.

Lady Churchill with her sons Winston and John.

Vintage enthusiasts from right around Ireland will be drawn to Newcastlewest in Co. Limerick on April 4 for the annual Vintage and Antique Auction at O’Donovan’s.  There are cast iron tractor seats, old road signs, farm implements and a Honda 50 included among the lots.  The catalogue is online. Here are a some examples.

A selection of cast iron tractor seats.

Vintage advertising and road signs.

A Royal Saxon town coach is among the more eye-catching lots in a sale at Christie’s, South Kensington on April 30. European Noble and Private Collections celebrates the collecting traditions of dynasty’s across Europe. Lots on offer include Old Master and 19^th century paintings, furniture, European and Chinese works of art and porcelain, books, tapestries and silver.  Leading the sale is the town coach made by Royal coachbuilder Carl Heinrich Gläser (1831-1903), commissioned by the Royal House of Saxony, bearing the family’s coat-of-arms.

The auction features lots from the descendants of HRH Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria, Infante of Spain (1884-1958); The Blair Charitable Trust, removed from Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland; Lord Baden-Powell; The Royal House of Saxony, House of Wettin A. L. (Albertine Line); the Descendants of Don Mariano Maldonado y Dávalos, 7th Count of Villagonzalo (1851-1901) and The Collection of HRH Prince Henry, The Duke of Gloucester (1900-1974).  The wedding veil pictured was worn by Infanta María Teresa of Spain on her wedding to Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria, which took place in the chapel of the Royal Palace of Madrid on January 12, 1906.

A ROYAL SAXON BRASS-MOUNTED PARCEL-GILT AND BLACK-PAINTED TOWN COACH
BY CARL HEINRICH GLÄSER (1831-1903), DRESDEN, CIRCA 1870 (£20,000-40,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2015.

Swords presented to Major General Baden-Powell (1857-1941), founder of the scouting movement, in recognition of his role during the Siege of Mafeking (ranging in estimate from £1,000 to 10,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2015.

A SET OF TWELVE FRENCH CUT AND OVERLAY GLASS ‘SULPHIDE’ ARMORIAL DISHES
LATE 19TH CENTURY (£1,000-1,500). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2015.

A BELGIAN NEEDLE AND BOBBIN LACE TEAR-SHAPED WEDDING VEIL
BRUSSELS, CIRCA 1860 (£3,000-5,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2015  

Elvis Presley, That’s All Right / Blue Moon of Kentucky, 1955, Sun Records number 209. sold for 1,000.

Edge’s student guitar made 21,000 to become the top lot at Whyte’s Rock Pop and Movies auction in Dublin on March 28.  A buyer from California acquired the special piece of U2 memorabilia. Autographs by John Lennon and Yoko Ono sold for 1,250 over a top estimate of 500 and a guitar signed by Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton made 1,050 over a top estimate of 700. A guitar signed by Bob Dylan also sold for 1,050. A Pink Floyd The Wall watercolour by Gerald Scarfe made 2,800. A poster for The Bridge on the River Kwai made 1,300 and one for Psycho sold for 2,300.  James Bond proved perennially popular. A poster for Dr. No, doctored by the Irish film censor, sold for 1,400 and posters for Goldfinger and Thunderball made 2,000 and 1,900 respectively. A Star Wars poster made 1,100.

A 1955 first pressing Sun Records disc of Elvis Presley singing That’s All Right Mama made 1,000 and two other Sun Records discs with Elvis from 1955 each made 280.

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for March 23, March 22 and March 13, 2015).