The Under the Hammer column with Tennants Auctioneers

The top lot of the sale was a 2009 black leather Birkin Bag by Hermès, which sold for £5,000 (plus buyer’s premium). Sourced through the Harrogate branch, this legendary handbag, first created in the 1980s for actress Jane Birkin, has become an icon of fashion.

In good condition with original dust bag, authenticity card and fittings, examples such as this retain a high resale value at auction.

Further vintage and modern designer goods sold strongly too, with a Prada calf leather ‘Hobo’ bag selling for £450 (plus b.p.) against a £100-£150 estimate and a late 19th century Louis Vuitton Cabin Trunk selling for £1,800 (p.b.).

A further circa 1950s Louis Vuitton Monogrammed Suitcase, which had been purchased by the vendor’s parents in Paris in the circa 1950s, sold for £650 (plus b.p). We are now accepting lots for our next sale of Costume, Accessories and Textiles in the new year.

This year is not yet over mind, with the run up to Christmas looking busier than ever, of particular note being the Militaria and Ethnographica sale, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 12.

We are delighted to announce that included will be a Private Collection of Arms, again sourced through the Tennants’ Harrogate office, comprising over 40 lots of fine European, Middle Eastern and Asian Swords from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, together with flintlock and matchlock guns from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Highlights of the collection include a good late 18th century Indian Shamshir with a single edge curved Wootz blade, a jade hilt – the pommel carved as a ram’s head with a ruby and gold eye – and a silver cross guard with enamel decoration in an embroidered velvet scabbard.

The sword was possibly made under the influence of Claude Martin of the Lucknow Arsenal. Frenchman Claude Martin was a Major-General in the British East India Company, a self-made man who had risen through the ranks to become an integral part of the ruling elite of Lucknow.

A polymath, Martin amassed a massive fortune and collections of fine art and antiques, whose fortune was used after his death for the benefit and education of the poor.

This fine sword is entered with an estimate of £5,000-£8,000 (plus b.p).

Other exceptional lots include a late 18th/early 19th century Italian Flintlock Blunderbuss by B. Chinelli (estimate £3,000-£5,000 plus b.p), a rare 18th century French Officer’s Sabre ‘Hongrois’ to the Prince Paul Esterhazy’s Hussar Regiment (estimate £1,200-£1,800 plus b.p), and an 18th century Moroccan/Arab Nimcha (Mahratta Sabre) (estimate £1,500-£2,500 plus b.p).

For further details please contact the Harrogate office on 01423 531661 or see website for details www.tennants.co.uk