Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Napoleonic and Jacobite items to be auctioned in Fair City
TWO historical items, a carved bone snuff spoon dating from the Napoleonic wars and the other a Jacobite-era dirk, are to be sold at auction in Perth.
Both lots are to go under the hammer at auctioneers Lindsay Burns as part of their antique and fine art sale on Tuesday and Wednesday. They are estimated to raise hundreds of pounds each.
Nick Burns of Lindsay Burns says that by a remarkable coincidence he had spotted an almost identical snuff spoon at the recent opening of Perth Museum, while shortly afterwards during a chance visit to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow he saw a very similar dirk to the one a client has asked him to sell at the auction .
Nick told the Tele he has high hopes of the dirk possibly reaching four figures, such is the advance interest in it.
He said: “It’s funny how these chance things come along. We were at the opening of the Perth Museum a few weeks ago and I saw the spoon in a cabinet and then my family were through seeing my in-laws and I had a bit of spare time so I went down to look at the revised Burrell Collection and I just happened to see a dirk there that was comparable to the one that we’ve got.
“The spoon we have has come from a private collection of snuff spoons and boxes that we have been selling. This is now part four and it was probably Scotland’s largest private collection of snuff boxes and spoons.
“It’s quite topical given that the new Perth Museum has just opened and it’s a chance to own a museumquality object.
“So far we’ve got that in at between £100 and £150.
“The last three rounds of snuff box collections have made approximately £30,000 a time. Each round has usually been about 50 lots, so they are well contested popular items.”
Nick added that although it is difficult to say for sure, like its identical twin in the museum exhibit, the spoon is thought to have been carved by a French prisoner of war.