Out & About August 2017

W i s h y o u w e r e h e r e

We’ve all received that well-meaning gift from some far-flung isle, that goes straight in the drawer, never

to be seen again. THOMAS PLANT says take another

look, there might be more to those holiday souvenirs than you first thought S ummertime is traditionally holiday time and ever since the Victorian era, goods have been produced to appeal to tourists visiting towns across Britain. These pieces, as well as those produced in the 1970s, go under the hammer in our monthly Fine Arts & Antiques sales. One of the earliest examples of holiday souvenirs are Stanhopes, very small lenses that when held close to the eye show a view of the place they were being sold.

This Victorian invention was popular among holidaymakers and the lenses were inserted into items such as quills, needle cases or letter openers. By virtue of their age, late Victorian/early Edwardian W H Goss crusted china, typically stamped with the coat of arms of the holiday destination, is also collectable and can fetch hundreds of pounds for the rarest examples, for instance the Sandbach crosses, made in three pieces, realised just under £1,000 earlier this year. A late 20th-century Kamayura feather headdress, c.1980 from the Amazon Basin

In Scotland, Mauchline ware and Tartan ware were 19th-century holiday souvenirs made to boost the Scottish tourist industry and comprised a range of items from board games to snuff boxes and sewing implements made from sycamore wood with patterns depicting Scottish towns.

A 20th-century casting of the

Borghese Gladiator

An early Victorian Charles Stiven & Sons tea caddy, c.1842

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