Titled On the bow of the gin palace, a 3ft 1in x 4ft (94cm x 1.23m) oil on canvas by Edwardian painter and aesthete William Bruce Ellis Ranken (1881-1941) is estimated at £700-1000 at Sworders’ sale in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, on September 11.
The unframed work is signed and dated ‘99.
sworder.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
This rather battered school copy of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies was owned by Paul Hewson, better known by his stage name Bono.
The U2 front man signed his name on the half-titled page of the 1975 Faber & Faber copy when he was studying the novel at school. It comes with a letter of provenance from the vendor and is included in The Eclectic Collector sale at Whyte’s in Dublin on September 15.
Estimate €400-600.
whytes.ie or see this item on thesaleroom.com
This wooden jewellery chest is believed to have belonged to John Lennon before it was gifted to Alf Bicknell, the band’s driver at the height of Beatlemania in the mid-1960s.
Bicknell kept a diary of his time with the Beatles that was later published, and specific reference is made to a chest being owned by Lennon before he was given it in 1965.
Following Bicknell’s death, the chest was consigned by his family to a London auction house where it was purchased by the current owner. A copy of Bicknell’s book accompanies the chest, which is guided at £1000-1500 in the Special Auction Services sale in Newbury on September 19.
specialauctionservices.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
The obscure but prolific Victorian painter Janet Fisher (1867-1926) specialised in pastoral and bucolic subjects. This signed 2ft 1in x 3ft 3in (66 x 99cm) oil on canvas titled Shepherdess with Goats at Sunset is guided at £600-1000 at Mitchells of Cockermouth on September 5-7. Among the labels on the verso is one from 1909 for Bradley and Co London Agents.
mitchellsantiques.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
