Ballet-style slippers
Cream satin ballet-style slippers estimated at £2000-3000 at Bellmans' auction on May 26.

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The cream satin ballet-style slippers with gold thread bands and raised rosettes were made in the 1840s-50s by boot and shoemakers Gundry & Sons.

The slippers are estimated at £2000-3000 at Bellmans' auction on May 26.

The shoes had been given by Queen Victoria to her Mistress of the Robes, Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland. Her granddaughter Lady Florence married Henry Chaplin, 1st Viscount Chaplin and the slippers stayed in the Chaplin family until they were sold at Burwell Auctions in their Victoriana Sale on the May 13, 2000, where the present owner acquired them.

Also in the sale is a terracotta plaque commemorating Queen Victoria's silver jubilee estimated at £300-400.

Julian Dineen, specialist in charge of the auction, explains: "There is definitely a taste for memorabilia related to important historical figures at the moment. Our recent sale of Churchill's slippers indicated that although we don't expect Queen Victoria's slippers to necessarily reach five figures as they are less rare.

"We suspect that Queen Victoria's household would have ordered more than one pair of a particular style and due to their delicate nature they probably wouldn't have been worn too many times."

Brady balloons

Two monogrammed brandy balloons once owned by Sir Winston Churchill will be offered at Bellmans with an estimate of £7000-10,000.

The saleroom in Wisborough Green, West Sussex will also offer a number of Sir Winston Churchill related items during its auction week on May 25-28.

Brandy balloons once owned by Churchill will be offered. This follows a Bellmans' auction in March when a brandy balloon from c.1960, from a set of six, sold at the same time as his velvet slippers. The single brandy glass sold at £15,000 against a £7000-10,000 estimate.

This time three further glasses will be offered. The monogrammed tulip-shaped glasses will be offered for the first time coming directly from a branch of the Churchill family. They have an estimate of £7000-10,000.

The whereabouts of the final two glasses from the set is unknown.