Features

C&T Auctioneers’ (20% buyer’s premium) November 6 sale titled After the Great War Centenary also marked the final slice of a three-part offering of what specialist Matthew Tredwen called “one of the finest collections of First World War German militaria to have been sold at auction in the UK”.

This classic First World war recruitment poster with the Old Lion of Britain calling on the Young Lions to answer the call to fight is estimated at £200-400 in Onslows’ poster auction on December 14.

A popular form of gift or memento to loved ones as troops left for the front was a ‘sweetheart brooch’.

The Hundred Days Offensive broke the back of German resistance in 1918 and by November the Allies were surging well beyond the once static Western Front.

British Empire soldiers included more than a million Indian Army troops serving overseas.

Such was the scale of the Great War that the Cameronians regiment alone raised 27 battalions from 1914-18.

As soon as the devastating power of machine guns in the First World War became clear, the British Army abandoned its earlier policy of attaching a section of just two guns to each infantry battalion or cavalry regiment.

It was a British engineer, Robert Whitehead (1823-1905) – working in Austria at the instigation of the Austrian Navy – who developed the first self-propelled torpedo in the 1850s.

The centenary of the Armistice has been marked by the appearance of some poignant lots at auction revealing the human cost.

The ‘heroic age’ of Polar Exploration coincided with the First World War. Shackleton’s perilous 1914-17 expedition was conducted against the backdrop of war in the northern hemisphere, while other earlier Polar explorers found themselves caught up in the conflict.

The vast human toll of the First World War did not end with the Armistice. On New Year’s Eve 2018 Oberleutnant Friedrich Ritter Von Röth committed suicide at the age of 25, as a result of being shattered at Germany’s defeat.

The exact history of this 200-year-old saltwater pearl is unknown but it is undoubtedly a gem of considerable merit.

The sale titled California Jewelry held by Doyle in New York on November 19 includes some fine period pieces sourced by the Manhattan firm via its West Coast office.

There was a time when vintage Omega represented a cost-effective alternative to vintage Rolex. Today, the rule does not always apply.

Heritage Auctions’ Fine Jewelry Signature sale in New York on December 3 includes two rings by London-based designer and virtuoso goldsmith Elizabeth Gage.

This novel 14ct gold, cabochon emerald, diamond, and ruby brooch by Van Cleef & Arpels carries an estimate of $5000-7000 at Skinner of Boston’s sale of Important Jewelry on December 4.

The sale of the Anne Shannon collection of British and Continental designer jewellery will live long in the memory.

Tiffany exhibited only gold jewellery at the 1878 Paris exposition, including a collection of ‘Japanesque’ pieces.

Dr Anne Shannon would no doubt have admired these three pieces of turn of the century jewellery sold at UK regional salerooms in recent weeks.

This amethyst and cultured pearl ring and brooch is by Stuart Devlin (1931-2018) – the Australian-born designer and craftsman the Duke of Edinburgh described as “probably the most original and creative goldsmith and silversmith of his time, and one of the greats of all time”.