Past Items Sold
Below are some recent highlights from our past sales
Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, |
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| FAIRFAX THOMAS: (1612-1671) General and Parliamentary Commander-in-Chief during the English Civil War. D.S., T: Fairfax, one page on vellum, small oblong folio, 27th October 1645. The manuscript document is a Civil War military commission issued by Fairfax as 'Comander in Chiefe of all the forces raysed or intended to be mainteyned by vertue of an ordinance of Parliament...for the defence of the Kingdome' and appoints Matthew Maxwell to be an ensign in Captain Cope's foot company. With paper seal (reattached by thread). Light overall age wear, otherwise VG
Estimate £250-350. Sold for £550, December 2008 |
PEPYS SAMUEL: (1633-1703) English Naval Administrator, most famous for his diary. L.S., S Pepys, one page, folio, Navy Office, n.d. (possibly July 1668), to Edward Gregory, Clerk of the Cheque at Chatham and to the Storekeeper and the Clerk of the Survey. Pepys sends a petition by John Norwood for an allowance for sand used on the King's business. Attractively signed by Pepys at the conclusion and countersigned by other principal officers of the Navy Board, Thomas Middleton, Surveyor and Comptroller of the Navy, and William, Viscount Brouncker, mathematician, linguist, first President of the Royal Society. VG
Estimate £600-800 . Sold for £950, December 2008
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KENNEDY JOHN F.: (1917-1963) American President 1961-63. A good signed and inscribed 8 x 10 photograph, as President, showing Kennedy in a formal head and shoulders pose wearing a pinstripe suit and tie. The newly-elected President looks directly towards the camera in a confident manner. Photograph by Fabian Bacharach. Signed in bold black fountain pen ink to the lower white border, 'For Evelyn Roper, with best wishes, John F Kennedy'. Accompanied by an autograph letter of provenance from Roper, dated 12th September 1977 (laminated) stating that she was secretary to the Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate in 1961 and explaining how she obtained the signed photograph shortly after Kennedy was sworn in as President. A few very minor, light traces of former mounting to one edge of the white border and the two lower corners, otherwise VG
Estimate £1500-2000. Sold for £2200, December 2008 |
HITLER ADOLF: (1889 - 1945)
Fuhrer of the Third Reich 1933-45. Book signed, a fine hardback edition of his political manifesto Mein Kampf, published by Muller & Son, Munich, 1938. The presentation edition bears a printed front endpaper, in German, presenting the book to a newly married couple from the Mayor of Munich, 21st December 1938. Signed by Hitler to the front endpaper in bold black fountain pen ink and dated 27th December 1938 in his hand. Quarter black leather with gilt lettering and decoration, four raised bands to spine. Contained in a plain black cloth presentation case. Accompanied by a letter of provenance, an A.L.S. by Josef Hausner, one page, 8vo, n.p., n.d. (c.1960), in German. Hausner, an SS-Obersturmfuhrer and member of Hitler's personal security, states ' This book, Mein Kampf, was given as a gift to my wife on 21.12.1938 by the City of Munich as a bridal gift. I obtained the personal signature of Adolf Hitler as a wedding gift, in my capacity as a police official in the Fuhrer's private command.' VG
Estimate £3000 - 4000 Sold for £3900, December 2008
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HITLER'S SECRET AIR WEAPON:
An interesting, extremely rare set of original designs for a German Third Reich aircraft featuring a bomb. The five different detailed pencil drawings, with ink annotations, by an unknown engineer, are on two sides of a 4to sheet of graph paper, n.p., n.d., and depict a last ditch glider bomber designed to be mass produced for one-off missions against Naval targets. Also included is a further drawing showing the proposed course of flight by the glider. The drawings show that the mother ship , based on the late variant of the Ju 88, 1000 kilo bomb, which, using the tungsten cored flying principle of a pub dart dived on its target at speeds in excess of 700 mph. The aircraft is also equipped with a balloon which would have been released simultaneously with the bomb and, taking some time to inflate, would produce a slowly enlarging drag inducer to keep the glider under some form of control whilst the pilot attempted to escape. These drawings were removed from the Reichs Chancellery in Berlin in July 1945 by Richard Rex who had been sent to Germany to help establish a medical dispensary for use during The Potsdam Conference. Accompanied by a detailed letter of authenticity signed by Rex and witnessed by a Notary Public. Also included is a letter from Terry Gander, an expert in German Aviation of World War II, explaining that he has never seen anything like the glider previously and continuing to offer his interpretation of how the aircraft would have flown and been manufactured. A unique set of drawings illustrating one of Hitler's secret air weapons that may have changed the course of history and helped him win World War II. File holes to left edges, causing small areas of paper loss although not affecting the drawings and annotations. Otherwise VG, 2
Estimate £2000 - 3000. Sold for £2500, December 2008 |
ELIOT T. S.: (1888-1965) American-born English Poet and Dramatist. Nobel Prize winner for Literature, 1948. Book signed and inscribed, a hardback edition of Murder in the Cathedral, Fourth Edition published by Faber and Faber Ltd., London, 1938. Signed in bold fountain pen ink to the title page, 'Inscribed for Fr. W. R. Alderson, in grateful memory of his years at St. Stephen's, by T. S. Eliot' and dated 9th September 1947 in his hand. Accompanied by the dustjacket and with Alderson's bookplate to pastedown. VG
Estimate £100 - 120. Sold for £450, December 2008
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WELLES ORSON: (1915-1985) American Actor & Film Director, Academy Award winner. An excellent vintage signed and inscribed 8 x 10 photograph of the young Welles in a head and shoulders pose. The original RKO Radio Pictures publicity portrait dates from 1941, the same year in which Welles directed and starred in Citizen Kane, a film for which he won the Best Actor and Best Director Oscars. Signed in bold, dark fountain pen ink across a light area of the background. Some very slight, minor discoloration to the image, only lightly affecting the signature. About VG
Estimate £300 - 400. Sold for £400, March 2009 |
OWENS JESSE: (1913-1980) American Athlete, famous for his participation at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 where he became the first American to win four Olympic Gold medals in track and field events. Signed and inscribed 8 x 10 photograph of Owens in a full length action pose at the start of his record breaking 200 metre race at the Berlin Olympics, 1936. Signed in bold black ink across a light area of the image, 'To Michael - Best of luck in all you do - Jesse Owens'. An historic signed photograph. VG
Estimate £150 - 200. Sold for £540, March 2009 |
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