Silver made in Limerick is highly sought after by collectors

Chiswick Auctions, London An early George III Irish provincial silver ‘hook end’ soup ladle sold within estimate when it fetched £3,125 at the auction house’s recent silver sale.

It was made in Limerick, c. 1760, by the silversmith Samuel Johns who used a maker’s mark of his initials SJ flanked by a lion rampant, an idiosyncratic feature of Limerick’s silversmiths.

Chiswick Auctions’ silver specialist, John Roger, said: “Irish provincial silver is a well sought-after field. Dublin is the usual, Cork is scarce with a jump in rarity for Limerick items.”

The maker’s mark SJ is flanked by a lion rampant

Dawsons, Maidenhead Two watches owned by the late Hollywood actor Peter O’Toole (1932-2013) sold for a collective £20,300 at the Berkshire auctioneer’s sale on

The 18ct gold watch was a gift from the Sheik of Saudi

Arabia

November 17.

The first, an Audemars Piguet 18ct yellow gold reference 5548, which sold for £18,000, was given

O’Toole wore the Baume & Mercier at the 75th Academy

Awards to the actor by the Sheik of Saudi Arabia for his performance in the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia

The second, which sold for £2,300, was a Baume & Mercier Riviera quartz watch.

Mallams, Oxford An atmospheric watercolour of the Cumbrian mountain range the Langdale Pikes scaled its pre-sale guide price of £400-£600 to take £8,200 at the Oxford saleroom’s recent sale.

Hunt is known for his atmospheric portrayal of landscapes

Painted by the Liverpool-born artist Alfred William Hunt (1830-1896), it was the sale’s topselling lot and signed and dated 1857. Encouraged by John Ruskin, Hunt exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1854, and afterwards contributed landscapes in oil and watercolour to London and other provincial exhibitions. He is especially known for his poetic rendering of atmosphere and extraordinary landscape detail.

Reeman Dansie, Colchester Two 18th-century nun dolls sold at the Essex auctioneers for a total of £55,000 hammer, exceeding their combined estimate of £4,000.

At the same sale Queen Elizabeth II’s military provisional driving licence, issued to Princess Elizabeth when she was serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), sold for six times its lower pre-sale guide price of £1,000 when it fetched £6,800.

Hansons, London The typewriter used to create British sitcom Steptoe and Son sold for eight times its low estimate of £100, fetching £800 at the Derby-based auction house’s London saleroom.

It was owned by scriptwriter and Bafta winner Ray Galton (1930-2018) – a former union worker who succeeded as a writer despite being struck down with tuberculosis aged 18.

The 1945 War Department driving permit no.B1232 stated the future monarch had blue eyes, was 5ft 4in tall with light brown hair.

Nun dolls acted as instructional tools to teach novices about the order’s specific rules and dress code. They were also sent by nuns to their families as keepsakes to show the style of

The late Queen’s driving licence was issued when she was aged 18 in the

ATS

habit, and as first communion gifts.

One of the pair of nun dolls which together notched up

£55,000

Such was the impact of the ground-breaking comedy, featuring a mean and grasping father, and his long-suffering son, Harold, it was remade in the United States as Sanford and Son, in Sweden as Albert & Herbert, in the Netherlands as Stiefbeen en zoon and in South Africa as Snetherswaite and Son.

The typewriter was used to create the iconic comedy series

Her Majesty served in the No. 1 Mechanical Transport Training

Centre in Camberley

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