1. Willy Wonka golden ticket – £13,000
A golden ticket used in the 1971 film ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ – £13,000 at Catherine Southon.
The wording to this gold-coloured foiled ticket reads ‘Wonka’s Golden Ticket Greetings to You The Lucky Finder of the Golden Ticket. From Mr Willy Wonka’.
As supported by documentation, it was used as a prop in the original 1971 Paramount film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder and later owned by Julie Dawn Cole, the actress who played the character Veruca Salt.
It was entered for sale at Catherine Southon of Selsdon in Surrey on July 17, complete with its cardboard Wonka ‘chocolate’ bar, a letter of authenticity from Cole and associated photos.
Estimated at £8000-12,000, the lot selling to a bidder via thesaleroom.com at £13,000.
Filmed in Munich in 1970, very few props from the original Willy Wonka film survived as most were destroyed immediately after production. A similar ticket sold for £15,000 at an auction conducted by movie collectables specialists Prop Store in 2014.
2. Chinese reverse glass painting – £11,200
A Chinese Export reverse painted mirror – £11,200 at Clarke’s.
Admired for their vibrant colours and exoticism, Chinese reverse glass paintings were highly prized in the 18th century English country house. Most were produced specifically for the export market, often following a European original which would have been reversed and meticulously copied in oils onto the glass by artists working in and around Guangzhou.
Most were given suitable frames when they arrived in the West.
This typical Chinese Export reverse painted mirror painted with parrots and foliage is mounted in a (slightly damaged) maple frame measuring 2ft x 3ft 3in (60 x 98cm). It sold for £11,200 (estimate £1000-1500) at Clarke’s, Shaftesbury Dorset on July 13.
3. Boer War militaria – £15,000
This medal came for sale at Ramsay Cornish in Edinburgh on July 13 by descent from Major Jonathan Leslie Dean (1859-1926), a key participant in the Siege of O'okiep (1902).
Offered with a silver cigar box and ‘oil lamp’ lighter, the medal is the Cape Copper Company Medal, a private campaign medal issued by the company in 1902 and awarded to members of the O'okiep Garrison who defended the town whilst it was besieged by Boer Commandos from 4th April to 4th May 1902 towards the end of the Second Boer War.
The table lighter, hallmarked for Birmingham 1900, and the cigar box (Chester 1901) bear inscriptions to Major Dean – the latter ‘in recognition of his unvarying kindness, attention and assistance, to all Ranks while Stationed at O'okiep, wishing him Many Happy Returns of his birthday 13th January 1902’.
While the regular troops at O'okiep were given the Queen's and King's South Africa medals by the British Government, the civilian defenders (typically local black miners) were precluded. Instead the Cape Copper Company struck a medal of its own to be presented regardless of status or race.
The bulk were in bronze and awarded to the rank and file. A small number of rarer silver medals, such as this example given to Major Dean, were awarded to officers and higher-ranking mine officials.
Estimated to sell for £5000-7000, it went to an online bidder at £15,000.
4. Ferdinand Preiss figure – £13,400
An Art Deco figure by Ferdinand Preiss – £13,400 at Barbara Kirk.
Under forthcoming UK ivory legislation, there will be no legitimate market for bronze and ivory Art Deco figures. Made less than 100 year ago and comprising more than 10% elephant ivory, they fail to qualify for any of the proposed exceptions.
But until the legislation becomes law (and a judicial review and the ongoing distraction of Brexit will doubtless add to the delay) these much coveted works continue to command substantial sums at auction.
This risqué 13in (33cm) model by Ferdinand Preiss is known as Spring Awakening. It is particularly unusual in this blue-tinted colouring. Despite missing her hands, the figure sold for £13,400 (estimate £2000-3000) at Barbara Kirk in Penzance on July 16.
5. Easthampstead Park account book – £4200
A group of documents from Easthampstead Park in Berkshire – £4200 at Bulstrodes Auction Rooms.
A popular entry at Bulstrodes Auction Rooms in Christchurch, Dorset on July 10 was this lot comprising two early estate account books relating to Easthampstead Park near Bracknell in Berkshire. Easthampstead, rebuilt in the Victorian period and now a conference venue, was given by Charles I to the diplomat and politician William Turnbull in 1629. Sir William Turnbull III (1639–1716) was active in the Royal service overseas.
Both bound in vellum, the first details ‘monies received in the office of the Secretary of State Sir William Trumbull’ during the reign of William III between August 1694 and November 1697. The second is the estate account of Easthampstead for the years 1747-48. An additional 23 documents and indentures ranged in date from 1592 into the 1850s.
The lot was estimated at £300-400 but found an online buyer at £4200.
The Trumbull inheritance included 380 volumes of manuscripts collected by Sir William which features letters by British and European royalty and key Stuart figures such as Francis Bacon, John Donne, John Dryden and Alexander Pope, was long on loan to Berkshire County Record Office. Sent for sale at Sotheby’s in 1989 with an estimate of £2.5m, at the eleventh hour a deal that took the papers to the British Library.
6. 18th century marble fireplace – £19,000
18th century marble fireplace – £19,000 at Philip Serrell.
Although incomplete, the key elements of this 18th century marble fireplace were intact. That included a large and well-preserved neoclassical tablet and frieze decorated with multiple figures that measured 6ft 3in (1.9m) across.
By repute, this lot – including other sections (perhaps from another fireplace) – was purchased at auction from an unknown property in the 1950s and had been in barn storage since.
It was being sold by direction of the executors of a deceased estate.
Offered for sale by Philip Serrell of Malvern, Worcestershire on July 11 it sold to a buyer via thesaleroom.com at £19,000.
