Jubilee Showcase: We preview

Jubilee Showcase

To mark the Platinum Jubilee we round up some very special royal pieces

A skeleton clock by Camerer, Kuss & Co. of London to celebrate Queen Victoria’s 1897 Diamond Jubilee with gilt bronze figures of the monarch and her husband Prince Albert. On sale from Butchoff Antiques, POA.

Two photograph albums for the pantomimes Aladdin and Little Red Riding Hood, staged by the princesses Margaret and Elizabeth (who played Aladdin) at Windsor Castle in 1943 and 1944, each has an estimate of £1,500-£2,000 at TW Gaze’s sale on June 14. The performances raised money for the Royal Household Wool Fund, which supplied blankets for soldiers on the front.

A pair of silver and gold Stuart crystal cufflinks, c.1700, with octagonal faceted rock crystal covers, over a monogram believed to be that of the Earls of Bose-Lyon, has an estimate of £200-£300 at Sworders‘ fine jewellery sale on June 28.

An art deco platinum and diamond brooch, which once belonged to Princess Margaret, has an estimate of £6,000£8,000 at Noonans‘ sale on June 14. Unseen on the market in 43 years, it is one of seven pieces sold by the princess in 1979 a year after her divorce from Lord Snowdon. An enamel and rock crystal mourning ring, c. 1760, containing a hexagon of hair, which was once owned by Princess Margaret, has an estimate of £10,000-£15,000 at Elmwood’s important jewels sale on June 9. The ring is engraved with the princess’s monogram ‘M’ and her coronet.

A diamond brooch given to the Duchess of York by Princess Elizabeth to thank her for being her stand-in at a rehearsal for her upcoming coronation at Westminster Abbey has an estimate of £4,000-£6,000 at Noonans‘ sale on June 14.

The brooch, by Garrard & Co. Ltd, 1953, modelled as ‘ER’, comes with a handwritten note from the soon-tobe Queen ending: ‘The Archbishop was very grateful for all your patient help and Mummy hopes that my understudy will be available when I am next ill in bed!! I hope you will accept this small gift, which was Philip’s inspired idea, as an enduring reminder of my appreciation. Yours sincerely Elizabeth R.’

A cold-painted Vienna bronze corgi, c. 1910, the royal favourite, is on offer from Hickmet Fine Arts, priced £550

A pair of neo-classical Victorian corner cabinets, both stamped to show they were included in an 1866 inventory of Windsor Castle, is on sale from Mayfair Gallery Ltd. in London priced £22,000.

An 18th-century carved limewood royal coat of arms, c.1780, is on offer from Lennox Cato Antiques, in Edenbridge, Kent, priced £22,000. Chris Levine (b. 1960) Lightness of Being, 2012, has an estimate of £100,000£150,000 at Sotheby’s British Jubilee sale on June 29. See the article on page 18 for more details.

William Harding Collingham Smith (1848-1922) Kensington High Street on Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897, showing the crowds at the intersection with Kensington Church Street on June 20, is priced £2,850 from Harrogate-based Walker Galleries.

A life-size bronze bust of the Queen Mother by Vivien Mallock (b. 1945), an Associate of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, one of three ever made, is offered by Wick Antiques in Lymington priced £35,000.