An impressive silver centrepiece sweetmeat candelabra, presented by the British Army as a gift to an Indian royal family for their loyalty, sold for £10,000 at the Militaria, Medals, Naval & Aviation Auction on Wednesday.
The centrepiece was just one of a series of highlights at the successful Auction held by The Auction House, that recorded a 90 per cent sale rate.
Made by Horace Woodward & Co, London in 1873, the centrepiece was presented to His Highness the Rajah-I-Rajgan of Kapurthala by Colonel William Cosmo Trevor and the officers of H.M. 54th Regiment.
The title Rajah-I-Rajgan (King of Kings) of Kapurthala in the Punjab was held by Raja Kharak Singh for seven years from 1870. Kapurthala was a strategic pro-British princely state and, during the Indian Mutiny of 1857, its royal family decisively backed the British Crown.
Rewarding this loyalty, the British Government granted the rulers the grand title of Rajah-i-Rajgan.
The centrepiece was part of a single owner collection of 150 lots consigned by a Midlands vendor that sold for £24,000.
Another lot with Indian heritage, a pair of .650 calibre flintlock cavalry pistols, sold for £2,200. The pistols were supplied by the East India Company and may have been carried by Hyderabad Troopers as late as the First World War.
Another second single owner collection, this time from a Greater Manchester collector, included arare, original Royal Air Force Type D oxygen mask from the Second World War which sold for £2,600.
It was one of 15 lots that formerly belonged to Air Marshal Sir John Humphrey Edwardes Jones, a distinguished Royal Air Force commander whose military career spanned 35 years. Affectionately known as ‘EJ’, he played a pivotal role in the evaluation of the Supermarine Spitfire, led frontline fighter operations during World War II and held senior Cold War NATO commands.
Also from the collection, a pre or early Second World War Royal Air Force white cotton ‘Prestige’ flying suit made by tailor D. Lewis Ltd, sold for £1,900 and a Second World War RAF Irvin flight jacket sold for £750.
A rare wartime Daily Express newspaper cutting, dated January 19, 1943 and signed by 10 crew members of the photographed 106 Squadron RAF, who flew Lancaster Bombers on a raid over Berlin, sold for £1,450.
The crew comprised Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, bomb aimer Wallace Herbert, flight engineer Joe Chamberlain, wireless operator Arnold Pemberton, ‘Skipper’ David John Shannon, mid-upper gunner Mac McCulloch, navigator Frank Whalley, air gunner Sgt Don Robin and P/O Lewis Burpee.
Bomber Command mounted two raids against Berlin on January 16 and 17, the first attacks on the German capital for 14 months and two crews from 106 Squadron were singled out for mention in the press.
Several of the airmen who signed the newspaper cutting took part in the famous Dambusters Raid four months later.
A Second World War Royal Navy Distinguished Service Medal awarded to Able-Bodied Seaman Sidney Reid for his actions on board HMS Zulu during ‘Operation Agreement’ in the raid on Tobruk in 1942 sold for £1,350. Reid was one of six servicemen involved to receive this award.
“We were delighted with the auction result which underlined the demand for interesting items with provenance that are fresh to the market,” said Caroline Dennard, Militaria Specialist.
A letter signed and written by Admiral Sir Charles Wager (1666–1743) aboard HMS Torbay and addressed to the Hon. Charles Stewart, later to become Rear-Admiral, in 1727-8, during the Spanish siege of Gibraltar, sold for £840.
Other leading prices were £1,000 for three Japanese katana, £950 for a watercolour on paper, titled ‘St. Clement Danes’, by C. Freestone, depicting the London church in flames after sustaining a direct hit during the Blitz, £800 each for a British 1845 pattern Grenadier Guards / Foot Guards officer’s sword, a 19th century North Indian Tulwar sword and a Second World War Royal Air Force sector clock and £750 for a Second World War Japanese Army officer’s Type-95 Shin-gunto sword.
To consign items for our next militaria auction, contact Caroline on 01743 450700 or email: [email protected] .
