Among the rare Britains toys talked about in hushed tones by collectors is the Mickey Mouse Set 1645, produced by the company in 1938.
A well-preserved complete set of six characters, comprising Micky Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy and Clarabelle the Cow, in its original box, is estimated at £2000-3000 in a Toy Soldiers and Figures sale at C&T Auctioneers on June 13 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
The artist Betty Swanwick (1915-89) is known for her limited output. She worked almost entirely in watercolour, producing only around six paintings a year.
In a sale on June 12, Modern Art Auctions in Scarborough will offer a 19 x 19½in (49 x 50cm) watercolour and pencil work titled The River. It was bought from the RA’s Summer Exhibition a year after it was painted in 1970.
Estimate £2500-4000.
A small group of keepsakes from the collection of a royal nanny will go under the hammer at Kerry Taylor Auctions’ Passion for Fashion sale in Bermondsey, south-east London, on June 18.
Clara Knight, known as Nanny ‘Allah’, worked in the royal household from the birth of Princess Elizabeth in 1926.
Among the royal garments in the collection is the little pink silk coat worn by the queen as a baby in 1927, which is estimated at £2000-3000. Princess Elizabeth was photographed wearing the coat aged 11 months, under the watchful gaze of her nanny.
This pair of paintings by John Frederick Herring Senior (1795-1865) shown above will be offered in an art and antiques sale at North Yorkshire saleroom Morphets in Harrogate on June 7.
The relined 9 x 12in (23 x 31cm) studies depict the British thoroughbred racehorses Queen of Trumps and Mundig, both with jockeys up and dated 1835.
Queen of Trumps (shown with jockey in yellow top) was a brood mare best known for winning the classic Oaks and St Leger stakes in 1835 – the first horse to win both races. Mundig, a sire, notched up his most important win at Derby in 1835. The pair are initialled JFH and Six Mile Bottom – a hamlet near Cambridge derived from its distance from Newmarket Racecourse and its situation in a valley bottom.
Estimate £3000-5000.
morphets.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
