Live Auction 1546The Raglan Collection: Wellington, Waterloo and The Crimea And Works of Art from the Collection of the Marquesses of Londonderry
A VICTORIAN SILVER PRESENTATION SPADE
Lot 543

A VICTORIAN SILVER PRESENTATION SPADE

MARK OF ELKINGTON AND CO. LTD., LONDON, 1896

Closed23 May 2014

Price Realised

GBP 6,250

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A VICTORIAN SILVER PRESENTATION SPADE
MARK OF ELKINGTON AND CO. LTD., LONDON, 1896
The blade engraved with cypher below a viscount's coronet, ebony shaft carved with foliate-wrapped fluting, the handle applied with foliate silver bosses, marked on blade and on handle
35 ¾ in. (79.4 cm.) long
The cypher is for Charles, Viscount Castlereagh, later 7th Marquess of Londonderry (1878-1949).

The inscription reads 'Castlereagh Pit. Dawdon Colliery, / August 26th 1899.'

Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of
Londonderry (1852-1915) and by descent.

Specialist note

This and the following lot commemorate the sinking of the new pit
at Dawdon Colliery. Dawdon had been the site of the short lived
Londonderry blast furnaces which had closed in 1865, and it was
decided to position the new pit here when the old pits at Seaham
became too expensive to operate as the mines extended further
underground. Whilst it was initially difficult to reach the seam,
taking until 1907 for the colliery to be fully operational, and by 1920
the mine would yield 1,000,000 tons of coal per annum.