Silver tray given to Sir Henry Pottinger, from the McCombs collection, priced at $74,500 by MS Rau
Some of the items - that will be sold in collaboration with the estate - are those featured in the book The Red McCombs English & Irish Silver Collection: Every Piece Tells a Story.
McCombs co-founded the media giant Clear Channel and was well known in the US as the owner of several sports franchises including the Minnesota Vikings, the San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets. A prolific collector of English and Irish silver, he owned close to 6000 pieces, 100 of which were pictured in his 2010 book. Buying from a range of international dealers including MS Rau, he was particularly fond of objects with provenance: those associated with royal or titled owners (several are connected with Queen Victoria) or pieces marking significant historical events.
Typical of the remarkable items on offer is this monumental 2ft 9in (84cm) silver tray given to Sir Henry Pottinger, the British ambassador who negotiated the Treaty of Nanking in 1842.
With marks for Edward Barnard & Sons (London, 1845), the tray includes vignettes showing the signing of the treaty alongside motifs of Chinese dragons and English roses. Two medallions bear Pottinger’s arms and those of the Corporation of the City of Manchester that made the presentation.
After the 1842 agreement, which ended the first Opium War and ceded the island of Hong Kong to the UK, Pottinger served as the first governor of Hong Kong, from 1843-44.
The tray is priced at $74,500.
