English Leather Covered Naval Telescope, circa 1850

A fantastic painted wooden English 'country house' private red post box likely to have been made for the lobby of a hotel, business, club or a country house. It would have been empti...

Wonderful very large Victorian leather cigar case with shoulder strap, circa 1900. Expands to take different lengths of cigar. Would take a box of Robustos or Montecristo No. 2’s very nicely. Perfect accessory for the races or the Grouse moor...

A beautiful leather on oak double gun case made to house a pair of side by side double barrel 12 bore shotguns. With original felt lined interior and elabora...

A painted carved wooden model of a Hawker Hunter in RAF livery with an interesting provenance, circa 1955. The model is mounted on a wood and acrylic sta...

A unique pair of miniature tradesman’s or apprentice samples of English general purpose saddles. Circa 1930. Both equestrian saddle examples are individually hand crafted using a mi...

A mid 20th century shipyard engineers model of The Eryx II yacht, commissioned by Comte Robert‐Jean de Vogüé and the last schooner designed by Charles Ernest Nicholson. With original...

A superb large antique English mahogany and brass nautical maritime telescope or spyglass, London, circa 1850. Inscribed "G. Bracher, London, Day or...

Early twentieth century ships telescope with a leather and rope wrapped barrel. Single focal tube is engraved Hughes and Son Ltd. London EC3. Circa 1920. Barrel end is fitted with a ...

Brass telescope with copper handle, three-extension focus. English manufacture of the second half of the 19th century. Maximum length 62 cm, inches 23.4, minimum cm 20,- inches 7.9 ...

This is an antique 3-draw telescope. An English, brass and leather terrestrial or astronomical refractor, dating to the Victorian period, circa 1870. ...

Cannocchiale a sezione tonda brass with leather-covered handle and three-extension focus. Cannocchiale a sezione tonda brass with leather-covered handle and three-extension focus. ...

Pair of antique English naval cannon each with a tapering three stage barrel flanked by plain trunnions, with a knob shaped cascabel button before a shaped rectangular raised vent and ending in a 3 1/2” bore muzzle, enclosing a removable conforming wood plug, circa 1800. Stood upon a naval type bronze-mounted four wheeled wooden carriage, including its wedge shaped quoin with knob handle. The Earls of Lonsdale, Lowther Castle, Cumbria, presumably by descent to Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale (1857-1944), until sold by his heir and brother, Lancelot, 6th Earl, as part of the contents of Lowther Castle, Maple & Co. Ltd./Thomas Wyatt, Tuesday 14 April 1947 and two following days, lot 558: ‘A pair of Old Gun Metal Cannons on teakwood carriages, 3ft. 6in. long’. Mrs. P.M. Adie-Shepherd, sold Christie’s, London, 29 May 1970, lot 96. Lowther Castle is a castellated mansion built by Robert Smirke between 1806 and 1814 for William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1757-1844). It was constructed on the foundations of the former 17th century family seat, Lowther Hall, but it was only in the early 19th century that it was afforded the name ‘castle’ in keeping with the Europe-wide fashion for romanticism and which was promoted by influential characters such as William Beckford at Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire in England and by the writer Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, Roxburghshire, Scotland. While it’s not known when these naval cannon were acquired for Lowther they would have been entirely fitting in the castle or its approaches and it’s likely that they were in place soon after the castle was completed, or perhaps acquired later by the 5th Earl. A tantalising possibility is that the cannon were originally aboard the East Indiaman Lowther Castle which was active in the early 19th century. HUGH CECIL LONSDALE, 5TH EARL OF LONSDALE (1857-1944) AND THE DEMISE OF LOWTHER CASTLE In 1882 at the age of 25 Hugh Lonsdale (1857-1944) unexpectedly inherited the earldom and with it the extensive Lonsdale estate, including tens of thousands of acres of Cumberland and Westmorland and coalfields at Whitehaven. However, despite his spectacular inherited wealth – he was suddenly one of the wealthiest men in England, over the course of his lifetime he managed to decimate the family fortune. He led a full and colourful life, one of adventure and luxury. An early intrepid escapade took place in July 1888 when, as part of an expedition called the Scotch Naturalist Society, he set embarked on horse sleigh...