From Victoria
A COLLECTION of remarkable royal memorabilia going back nearly 200 years is set to fetch tens of thousands of pounds at auction next week.
A testament to the passion of collector Jim Hanson, it tells the story of the Royal Family in sepia photographs, letters, telegrams, elaborate menus and other colourful mementos.
One of the most breathtaking lots is a rare black- and- white portrait photo of a relaxed Princess Diana, signed “Diana 1993” in a silver arched presentation frame engraved with her crowned D cipher. It is estimated at £ 3,000 to £ 3,500.
The collection, includes a 2005 invitation to celebrate the “Royal Ballet School” at Buckingham Palace and a 1952 photo of Prince Charles on his fourth birthday with Princess Anne.
There’s also a 1936 invitation from Edward VIII to his bride- to- be Wallis Simpson and her then husband Ernest, and a later photo of Edward and Wallis as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor after his abdication.
From more recent times, there’s a menu from one of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding events. The auction also includes an original order of service, photographs and invitations for their wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey in 2011.
Auctioneer James Grinter, who will
2005 invitation to Buckingham Palace sell the collection, said that Mr Hanson, who lived in Ottery St Mary, Devon, was an “extraordinary” collector.
Mr Grinter said: “He started from an early age collecting cheese labels, before moving on to marbles which he traded in the school playground.
“After giving up farming in Devon in the late 1970s he concentrated on philately, travelling the world trading and exhibiting stamps, and then turned his attention to royal memorabilia in his later years before his death.