Magnifying glass believed to have been used by Lewis Carroll – £15,000 at Sotheby’s.
In a Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium) sale of October 3-10, the magnifying glass seen here was sold for £15,000 rather than the the estimated £1500-2500.
It is believed by descendants of Bertram James Collingwood, younger brother of the writer’s nephew and godson, Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, to have been one used by the writer.
However, another lot, engraved to the back of the case ‘BJC from CLD’, the writer’s “second best silver watch”, a Swiss pocket watch given to young Bertram that brings to mind the one that the White Rabbit produces from his waistcoat pocket in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, failed to sell against an estimate of £8000-10,000.
