Once upon a time…

Lot 3333 (Front and Back of the Menu)

The history of an object can add value or increase an object’s saleability dramatically, which is why provenance is so important to many antique and collectable items. It was announced recently that The British Antique Dealers’ Association (BADA) is to issue provenance certificates for pieces sold by members, as part of a series of changes to modernize the trade association. In their blog announcement BADA state:

Provenance is a crucial element in the sales process and of importance to the art market at large, and for the first time, the fact that an object has been bought from a member of the British Antiques Dealers’ Association can now be recorded as part of its permanent provenance.

People also love a good story, so family history can distort or exaggerate the facts of an item’s history. For this reason, documentation detailing the history of a valuable object is often crucial. The BADA certificates will provide this in the future, in the same way that receipts and letters from times gone by help substantiate the family tale.

Many items have a story to tell without the need for provenance or family history; they are self-explanatory and often fascinating in their own right. The sales of Paper Collectables at Toovey’s are one of the specialist areas in which these items appear most frequently.

The sale on 12th August 2014 includes a group of royal menus (Lot 3333), collected by one of the royal chefs. These 150 or so menus were swept up after various state, official and other meals as a memento of the vendor’s culinary work for H.M. Queen Elizabeth II. Having worked on H.M.Y. Britannia and at Windsor, Sandringham, Buckingham Palace and Holyroodhouse, the vendor’s collection offers a fascinating insight into ‘how the other half live’. Among the menu cards is one of particular interest. Dated ‘Samedi Le 25 Decembre 1993’ and offering a list of delectable dishes, this menu is fascinating because of what is written on the back. The inscription, by a nine-year-old Prince Harry, asks of his brother: “William, What are you talking about Signe [sic] back =.” This eight-word note conjures an image of what the royal meal might have been like for a young boy eager to play with his presents on Christmas day, rather than sitting at a stuffy dinner table with conversation circulating well above the nine year old’s sphere of interest and understanding. Of course, at this date his mum, Princess Diana, would have been at the table at Sandringham.

Lot 3339

From the prince’s charming note to the villain’s devious missives, with a macabre group of four letters from John George Haigh, better known as the ‘Acid Bath Murderer’ (Lot 3339). The group of two typed letters and two autograph letters are all addressed to Miss Bishop and concern the whereabouts of Mr McSwan. Haigh had supposedly taken over Mr McSwan’s affairs so that the latter could go to Scotland to avoid the Second World War. By the time these letters were written in 1945-46, however, McSwan had already been dead for nearly a year, murdered by Haigh, who subsequently dissolved his body in sulphuric acid and poured the remains down a manhole. More victims followed, similarly dissolved in a warehouse which Haigh rented in Crawley. Further local Sussex interest is provided as, after his arrest, Haigh was remanded in custody at Horsham Police Station and was charged with murder in the nearby court house, today known as the Old Town Hall. In the courtroom it took just minutes to find Haigh guilty and he was hung for his crimes on 10th August 1949. The initials ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘G’ can be seen in the top corner of each letter, inscribed by a later hand, presumably as a reference for them being used as evidence.

Lot 3192

The heroes of this blog post can be found on the vintage picture postcards offered in the auction. The outbreak of the First World War was during the Golden Age of postcard production and so many of the postcards provide either a visual or written commentary of the war years. These first-hand accounts might be seen in group portraits of troops prior to leaving for the horrors of the war, or in the images of bomb-damaged cities. They could also be in the brief, censored messages sent home from the front line on the back of French embroidered silk postcards, like those seen in Lot 3192. Postcards and ephemera can provide valuable primary sources for those researching and studying the era. A revealing glimpse into one side of the First World War is presented in Lot 3153, a collection of 24 postcards, the majority of Münster Prisoner of War Camp. Including postcards of the Detention Block and Officer’s Mess, this group of postcards provides a visual snapshot of everyday life in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Great War.

Lot 3153

The Sale of Paper Collectables on 12th August starts at 1.30pm. Viewing for the auction is on Saturday 9th August between 9.30am and 12 noon and on Monday 11th August between 10am and 4pm. With about 350 lots of Stamps, Postcards, Cigarette and Trade Cards, Photographs, Autographs and Ephemera on offer, there is plenty in this auction for collectors and traders to choose from, hopefully meaning they will live happily ever after!

Sir Winston Churchill and Chartwell

Winston Churchill and Percy Cox at Chartwell
Percy Cox OBE wearing a flat cap, standing behind Sir Winston Churchill at Chartwell, image from the Percy Cox Archive

Sir Winston Spencer Churchill bought Chartwell in 1922. It was to be home to the Churchill family over the next forty-three years. Toovey’s paper collectables specialist, Nicholas Toovey, has uncovered a small archive of photographs, letters, telegrams and notes, which document the Churchills’ relationship with their friend and estates manager, Percy Cox, OBE. The correspondence and images give a very personal insight into life at Chartwell. The Percy Cox Archive is to be auctioned in November at Toovey’s.

View from Chartwell
The view from Chartwell looking south over the gentle landscape of the Weald of Kent

Churchill’s youngest child, Lady Mary Soames, has written that her father was “captivated by Chartwell from the moment he set eyes on the valley, protected by the sheltering arm of beautiful beech woods… and by the house on the hillside”. As you stand on the terrace at Chartwell, you are presented with a southerly view over the gentle landscape of the Weald of Kent; it speaks of an older England. Unsurprising, then, that this scene so inspired our greatest war-time Prime Minister. Whenever the English find themselves under threat, they turn to their monarch, their church and their landscape; our nation’s identity is bound together by these timeless threads.

An hour from London, Chartwell between the wars hosted a cast which included politicians, scientists and intellectuals. Among these were Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Camrose, the powerful proprietors of The Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph, and T.E. Lawrence and Charlie Chaplin. Famously, debates after dinner would continue into the early hours.

Churchill’s fortune from writing was severely affected by the financial crash of 1929, which signalled the arrival of the Great Depression. Life at Chartwell was always accompanied by financial worries and these coloured Churchill’s wife, Clementine’s view of their country home. By 1946 there were concerns as to whether the Churchills would be able to continue living at Chartwell.

Winston Churchill always felt his roots were at Blenheim, where he was born in 1874. Blenheim had been given to John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough, by Queen Anne and a grateful nation after his victory at Blenheim in 1704. Lord Camrose felt it wrong that Winston Churchill, the great war-time leader, could lose his home. With resonances of the gift of Blenheim, he and a group of wealthy men anonymously purchased Chartwell, on the express understanding that the Churchills would continue living there undisturbed until the end of their days, after which it would be given to the National Trust.

Churchill was always influenced by the long shadow of history, mindful to heed the warnings the past offers to the present. Much of Churchill’s writing was historical. He employed researchers like Maurice Ashley and William Deakin and would draw on their notes. Whether preparing a manuscript for a book or a speech, he liked to work standing and to dictate, cigar in hand, as he paced the room, often late into the night. Once these notes were typed, he would engage in painstaking revision. His method of working gifts his writing with the immediacy of the spoken word and displays irony, rhetoric and an honest passion.

Churchill English-Speaking Peoples
Percy Cox’s set of Winston Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples

Secure in his beloved Chartwell, he continued to write, working on his multi-volume war memoirs and his four-volume A History of The English-Speaking Peoples. The Percy Cox Archive also includes a first edition set of A History of The English-Speaking Peoples, published between 1956 and 1958, which has presentation inscriptions to Percy Cox. The worldwide syndication of these works made Winston Churchill a very wealthy man and all concerns about money vanished. Along with numerous acts of quiet generosity, it enabled Churchill to buy Chartwell Farm and a number of neighbouring farms. Nicholas Toovey comments, “The Percy Cox Archive relates to this post-war period and illustrates the fondness and respect in which the family held him. In particular, it casts light upon Mr Cox’s relationship with Winston and Clementine Churchill and their daughter Mary. Letters relating to the management of Churchill’s estates and invitations to dine at Chartwell and to attend Mary’s wedding with Lord Soames, together with photographs of Churchill and others, provide a very personal and poignant insight into their lives.”

The Percy Cox Archive contains some fifty items and is estimated to realise between £6000 and £8000. It will be auctioned at Toovey’s as part of our specialist sale of Paper Collectables on 5th November 2013. For more information, visit www.toovey’s.com or telephone 01903 891955.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 30th October 2013 in the West Sussex Gazette.

“Bruneliana” sells at Toovey’s

The Brunel/Noble silver trunk

The Brunel Hawes Archive was successfully sold by Toovey’s in November 2010. The sale made national newspapers including the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, and was even a topic of discussion by the National Trust in a fascinating blog post. Since the single owner auction it has been well reported that Toovey’s have established themselves as the leading auctioneers in the successful marketing and sale of items relating to the Brunel family. As the main port of call for selling items relating to Sir Marc Isambard Brunel and his son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it is unsurprising that an array of related items have gone under the gavel at our Spring Gardens auction house.  Items offered for sale since the Brunel Hawes Archive include ‘The Great Eastern ABC’ (featured in a previous blog post), that sold for £9000. In the same auction a slightly tatty copy of  the scarce publication ‘A Complete History of the Great Eastern‘ sold for £800.  This fascinating pamphlet published by the Liverpool department Store, Lewis’s, advertised the ship’s final use as a floating music hall. A mug and nursery plate commemorating the Thames Tunnel sold for £580, showing the demand is not just for I.K., but for his father, Sir Marc, too.  Among the slightly more unusual items offered was a silver trunk that once belonged to the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel which also beared the marks of his granddaughter’s husband Saxton William Armstrong Noble, who coincidently, was also an engineer. The oak and metal bound trunk sold for £1750 in March this year.

George Henry Andrews watercolour

In April, a fascinating and possibly unique group of seven magic lantern slides were sold for £5800. Each documented the last few days of the Great Eastern and included views on deck with items grouped as lots prior to the breaking up of the ship in 1889. Two months later a mid-19th Century watercolour was consigned, titled ‘History of Steam Navigation‘, this monochrome watercolour by George Henry Andrews was probably a preliminary drawing for the ‘Illustrated London News’ for whom the artist worked for. The central view was of the S.S. Great Eastern but surrounding this was smaller titled vignettes including I.K. Brunel’s other ships the Great Britain and the Great Western. This original work sold for £3200. The most recent offering of “Bruneliana” appeared in August as part of the auction of Paper Collectables. A concertina style optical toy peepshow of the Thames Tunnel from the Wapping Entrance sold for £1100. Over the last two years a variety of photographs relating to Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his engineering triumphs have also featured in Toovey’s auctions and always attract considerable interest, more of these are already consigned for the Sale of Paper Collectables on 6th November. Some people might wonder why these items appear in Sussex when the Brunels are much more associated with Bristol and London. The days of internet advertising and Toovey’s direct marketing mean that successful sales of “Bruneliana” can be held in Sussex. These items have sold to private collectors, specialist dealers, institutions and investment corporations across the country.  As the Antiques Trade Gazette reported on the 24th March “The Sussex village of Washington has to a very large degree become the preferred point of sale for Brunel material in recent times.”  Those still wanting a tenuous link with the Brunel family and Sussex however, can find one in the schooling of Isambard Kingdom. Between 1816 and 1820 the young, future engineer attended Dr Morell’s Academy in Hove, where it is believed he nearly choked on a half sovereign. As a result of this local connection the Brighton & Hove 673 double-decker bus is named after the famed engineer – an arguably useless piece of trivia to finish with!

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Paper Collectables

Lot 3050: Brighton & Hove Albion Football Postcards
Lot 3205: Brighton & Hove Albion Football Programmes

Other than antiques, fine art and collectors’ items, one of the main topics of discussion in Toovey’s Sussex saleroom is football. With the performances, refereeing decisions, goals, managers, saves, fouls, form and transfers often debated, the saleroom has on occasions transformed into an arena of football punditry. Who will be managing England at the 2012 European Championships seems to be a current hot topic of conversation. It would appear that the forthcoming summer of football and the millions wasted on strikers who can’t find the net in the Premiership seem to be overshadowing the mighty performances of one of our local teams, Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls were newly promoted into the Championship this season and appear to have settled into their much-awaited new home at the AMEX stadium.

The East Sussex team were founded in 1901 and originally played in the Southern League, before being elected to the Football League in 1920. Arguably their greatest spell was in the 1980’s, whilst playing in the top division they had a cup-run that took them to Wembley in the F.A. Cup where they played Manchester United, losing after a replay. The forthcoming sale of Paper Collectables on Tuesday 17th April includes Lot 3205, a large collection of football programmes mostly relating to Brighton and Hove Albion. Included in the lot is a series of programmes that follow the cup run of the 1982/83 season, including the semi-final, final and replay, these three all have the original ticket stubs for the matches included (see illustration, click for an enlarged image and again for further magnification), the lot carries a presale estimate of £100-150.

In the Postcard section of the same specialist sale is Lot 3050 (see illustration, click for an enlarged image and again for further magnification). This lot comprises a group of 10 photographic postcards of crowd scenes at the football matches of Brighton and Hove Albion. Dating from 1910 to circa 1929, the majority of the cards were published by the Hove-based photographer Thomas Walter Stephen Wiles, later Deane, Wiles & Millar, or the Brighton Camera Exchange. The postcards show a different era of football, the anonymous faces looking out are dressed in their Sunday best at a time when financial investment in the sport was considerably different.   It was also a different era for the Seagulls as these were taken at their former home, the Goldstone Ground. Amongst the supporters and collectors these postcards are always sought after, particularly those featuring cup-runs (as some of these do) or those against rival clubs. This lot carries the presale estimate of £50-80 and is offered alongside Stamps, other Postcards, Cigarette Cards, Autographs, Photographs and Printed and Manuscript Ephemera in Toovey’s Sale of Paper Collectables on the 17th April 2012. For viewing times for the auction please click here.

Under manager Gus Poyet, Brighton and Hove Albion are currently competing for a Play-off place in the Championship, and in the absence of any Crystal Palace supporters at Toovey’s, we wish them the very best of luck!

Samuel Pepys & Charles II document to be sold at auction

Samuel Pepys and Charles II document

ADVANCE NOTICE: To be offered in our forthcoming auction of Paper Collectables on 1st November 2011.

Charles II, King of England, and Samuel Pepys. A manuscript document on vellum in a secretarial hand, signed by King Charles II and countersigned by Samuel Pepys. Whitehall, London: dated 12th April 1678. 1p. folio (222 x 330mm.) The document addressed to ‘Captn. Cyprian Southack’ appointing him in command of the ‘Turky Friggott’ [probably the Turkey Frigate], with remnant of seal. Presale estimate £2500-3500. To view the lot click here.

The timing of the document suggests that Southack may have been commissioned as part of a larger force being assembled to deal with possible problems with the French in the West Indies, although this is supposition as no mention of a mission is contained within the document. Captain Southack was the father of Captain Cyprian Southack (1662-1745) who gained well-deserved fame for his cartographical work, and for the various maritime engagements which he took part in, or led, whilst employed in the colony of Massachusetts.

Toovey’s sold a similar document in a specialist auction at their salerooms on 17th May 2011, for £5300, which can be seen by clicking here.