19th century, Modern, Post-War, Contemporary Art and Decorative Arts
Online-Only Auction, 8 - 15 July 2019
Decorative Arts
About this Item
a silver butter knife, apparently unmarked, late 18th/early 19th century, the handle with ribbed pattern, the blade with foliate bright-cut engraving, the handle reverse engraved ml, dent, 15g; a George V silver cigarette case, Charles S Green & Co Ltd, Birmingham, 1918, rectangular, the hinged cover engraved with a Royal coronet above a cypher, the reverse engraved T.D.H. LONG. , double thumbpiece, restorations, dents,9,2cm wide, 115g; a Victorian metal police whistle and chain, The Metropolitan Patent, J. Hudson & Co., circa 1900, the barrel engraved The Metropolitan Patent, J. Hudson & Co, 13 Barr St, Birmingham, the reverse applied with a chain loop, with a chain attached, the whistle 10,5cm long; and a shrapnel fragment encased in a silver band engraved with a flowerhead and T. D. H. Long' with ring aperture, dent, 2cm long
Provenance
Formerly the Property of Mr TDH Long, (born 1871). He arrived in South Africa in 1896 and served as a sergeant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He served throughout the South African campaigns before joining the staff of Government House, Cape Town in 1901, where he remained in service for thirty years as the 'Head Messenger'. Thence by descent to his daughter Edith Long and his granddaughter Joyce Reypert.
Family tradition states that the shrapnel fragment was a memento from the Boer War where it had been longed in Tommy Long's arm. He had it mounted in Cape Town and wore it on his watch chain as a lucky charm.
More from 19th century, Modern, Post-War, Contemporary Art and Decorative Arts
