The Christmas Sale – Silver and Jewellery at Fieldings in Stourbridge on December 7 includes a Robert Welch silver coffee pot (shown above) and teapot estimated at £400-600 each. Both pieces hallmarked for 1973, they are sold with their original Robert Welch receipt when purchased in the late 1970s.
This late-19th century armchair with handpainted floral roundels, above, is by George Henry Walton and designed for Miss Cranston. A photograph of an interior of the Buchanan Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow, includes a side chair of this design.
It is estimated at £1000-1500 in the December 6 auction at Dickins in Middle Claydon, Buckinghamshire.
JK Farnell, the first British toy company to manufacture teddy bears, produced a series of miniature red, white or blue bears from 1914 that were often given by wives and sweethearts to soldiers when they went to war.
The set coming up for sale at Halls of Shrewsbury on December 11 was originally part of a very large collection owned by twins David and Guy Campbell, who were born in Devon in 1910. Despite costing a shilling each, their aunt bought them 50 ‘soldier bears’ for Christmas.
The estimate for the trio is £1000-1500.
This rare object above is a ‘Wilkinson’s patent’ cannon igniter made by James Wilkinson & Son of London to a patent published in 1854. It has a 20in (50cm) brass barrel with a muzzle cranked to approximately 70 degrees and a percussion lock.
The igniter comes in a period walnut storage case (possibly re-fitted for this apparatus) that includes various accessories. The Wilkinson label inside the lid is a reproduction. At the December 10 sale of Fine Modern & Antique Guns held by Holts in Wolferton, Norfolk, the estimate is £600-800.
Holts says it is responding to the demand for extended and flexible viewing by holding the December auction at its Norfolk headquarters rather than London.
