TOP of the LOTS

A Georgian necklace, made up of nine Stuart crystal memorial slides, has a guide price of £6,000-£7,000 at the Essex auction house Sworders' jewellery sale on June 27.

Fashioned from faceted rock crystal (quartz), enclosing a portrait or lock of hair in a closed back setting, Stuart crystals were the precursor to the memorial jewels which became fashionable in the Georgian and Victorian eras.

They were first popular in the wake of the execution of Charles I in 1649 when Royalist supporters showed their sympathy for the fallen Stuart monarch by wearing his likeness or initials woven in gold wire.

Above e central pair of slides contains the gold thread initials ‘EJ’ and ‘MJ’

A rare movie prop used in the 2001 film Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone is expected to sell for more than £10,000 at Chiswick Auctions’ sale on June 22.

The letter, which invited the boy wizard to enrol at Hogwarts, was bought by the vendor at a school charity auction in 2002 after being donated by one of the movie’s producers.

While many letters were used in the making of the film, the envelope on sale features a real and unbroken red-wax Hogwarts’ seal.

Top e letter invited 11-year-old Harry Potter to enrol at Hogwarts

Above e envelope includes a rare wax seal

Aninlaid oak sideboard by the makers Shapland and Petter has an estimate of £1,000-£1,500 at Tennants’ 20th-century design sale on June 17.

This Barnstaple firm was established in the late 1880s by the cabinetmaker Henry Shapland and the salesman Henry Petter and sold designs through Liberty’s. While the company’s design roots were in the arts and crafts tradition, its philosophy – opting for factory-based production – was not. Many pieces carry the firm’s original mounted label.)

A 3m-tall astronomical clock by the celebrated French maker Jean-Louis Bouchet has an estimate of €600,000-€800,000 at the Paris auctioneers Hôtel Drouot on June 30.

Bouchet became a Master clockmaker in 1762 and worked until 1789. The clock, dated to 1770, would have been made for a Parisian palace of the day.

An auction spokesman said: “Although Bouchet’s clocks can be found in private collections and museums, there is nothing comparable to this exceedingly rare piece. It is a unique piece; no other model, even similar, has ever been presented at auction.”

Right Bouchet’s exceptional clock includes neo-classical motifs

An art deco sapphire and diamond brooch, and a 120-year-old lace fan, both given to Princess Margaret by her grandmother Queen Mary have estimates of £8,000-£12,000 and £1,000£2,000 respectively at Noonans’ sale on June 13.

The brooch, cased by Collingwood, was a gift to the 15-year-old princess on her confirmation on April 15, 1946; while the fan, given to the nine-year-old Margaret in 1939, had been made to order by Queen Mary, the wife of George V, in 1904 for the St Louis Exhibition in America.

Six works by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976), all from private collections, including drawings, pastels and paintings go under the hammer in Tennants’ Modern and Contemporary Art sale on June 17.

Leading the sale, with an estimate of £60,000-£90,000, is Tug, a 1959 oil on panel signed and dated by the artist.

Inspired by Lowry’s love of the North Sea it was likely painted from the window of the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland, one of the artist’s favourite holiday spots. While the tug appears small on the vast grey sea, Lowry has given it a strength and determination as it battles its way across the composition from right to left leaving an impressive trail of black smoke in its wake.

Street scene

More typical of Lowry’s later style is Street Scene with Figures, a pastel signed and dated 1947, which is expected to make £40,000£60,000. It is the earliest work from a series of pastel works by the artist made during his annual visits to Cumbria to stay with his lifelong friend, the Reverend Geoffrey Bennett (1902-1991).

Man in a Wheelchair, an oil on board, signed by Harold Riley (1934-2023) and L. S. Lowry has an estimate of £10,000£15,000. Lowry met Riley in 1945 when he was presenting the 11-year-old with a first place award at Salford Grammar School’s art exhibition. The pair went on to be close friends and painting companions for more than 30 years, jointly working on a project to record the area and its people.

Leading Lowry expert, Jonathan Horwich, said: “They more usually painted works on paper together, thus making this fully finished oil painting a rarity.

“I have seen a number of these joint ventures over the years and I imagine both artists had great fun deciding who would paint what, perhaps swapping their usual subjects to tease us. Now with the sad passing of Harold Riley in April we no longer have anyone to ask, so we will never know for sure, which would probably amuse both artists greatly.”

Oversized clothing

Two pencil drawings also appear in the sale. The first, Family Group at the Seaside, is signed and dated 1969 and has an estimate of £40,000-£60,000. While Group of Figures, Young and Old is signed, 1970 and comes with a guide price of of £30,000-£50,000.

Lowry taught himself to draw in the classical manner while studying at Manchester College of Art, by the 1920s he had developed his own, unique style.

Lowry continued to dress his figures in the same depression-era clothes of the 1920s – not just the time he developed the style but also, he claimed, the happiest period of his often-troubled life. He also said he found oversized clothing very amusing.

The final drawing in the sale, a pencil and biro, titled A Family Group, 1966, was also executed on one of Lowry’s frequent trips to the Seaburn Hotel. With an estimate of £5,000-£8,000, it was dedicated to the hotel’s manager, Leslie Anthony.

The L.S. Lowry artworks appear in Tennant’s Modern and Contemporary Art sale on June 17, for more details go to www.tennants.co.uk

1L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) Tug, oil on panel, 19cm by 17.5cm, it has an estimate of £60,000-£90,000 2 L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) Street Scene with Figures, pastel, signed and dated 1947, 27cm by 35.5cm, it is has an estimate of £40,000-£60,000 3 L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) Group of Figures, Young and Old, in pencil, signed, 28.5 x 40.5cm, it has an estimate of £30,000-£50,000 4 L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) Family Group at the Seaside, in pencil, signed and dated 1969, 41 x 28.5cm, it has an estimate of £40,000£60,000 5 L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) and Harold Riley (1934-2023) Man in a Wheelchair, oil on board, signed by both artists and dated (19)60, 25 x 14.5cm, has an estimate of £10,000-£15,000 6 L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) A Family Group, in pencil and biro, signed, inscribed and dedicated “To Leslie Anthony”, dated 13 September 1966, 18 x 18cm, it has an estimate of £5,000-£8,000