Thomas Del Mar’s July 10 sale of antique arms, armour and militaria will include several items with connections to India. They include a royal cased pair of 20-bore Howdah pistols, made for Takhat Singh, Maharaja of Jodhpur (1843-73) and presented to his son, Kanwar Shri Jaswant Singh II, by the London maker Charles Lancaster.
The Lancaster records state that these pistols – numbered 3637 and 3638 – were made in 1862 for the maharaja. During this and the preceding year the maharaja bought no fewer than 14 firearms from Lancaster. The inscription on the barrels records their ownership by his son, and successor as maharaja, Kanwar Shri Jaswant Singh II (1838-95). The pistols are estimated at £25,000-30,000 in the sale at Olympia Auctions in West Kensington, London.
olympiaauctions.com or see this item on thesaleroom.com
On July 12, Onslows of Dorset will offer a complete run of six East Coast Joys posters. According to the saleroom, the group is not only believed to be the only complete set in existence but the first time that an East Coast Joys group has appeared at auction.
The six 3ft 4in x 2ft 1in (1.02m x 63cm) posters were designed for the LNER by Tom Purvis (1888-1959), who was briefed to produce “six double royal posters of the East Coast giving special attractions in the direction of sports etc”.
The group was acquired by the current owner in the 1980s from the late poster dealer Leslie Sherlock. The auction house said it is likely that the set had always been together rather than ‘assembled’ by the dealer. Estimate £20,000-25,000
Surrey auction house Catherine Southon will include these props from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in a July 17 sale in Selsdon. The Golden Ticket and Wonka Bar, guided together at £8000-12,000, were formerly the property of actress Julie Dawn Cole. She played Veruca Salt in the famous film starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka.
The props were given by Cole to the current owner’s deceased partner, the former auctioneer Mark Poncia. The gold-coloured foiled printed ticket reads WONKA’S GOLDEN TICKET/GREETINGS TO YOU, THE LUCKY FINDER OF THIS GOLDEN TICKET, FROM MR. WILLY WONKA…. The Wonka ‘chocolate’ bar is constructed of board with coloured paper surrounds and an outer foil wrapper.
