Bonnie Prince Charlie letter star of sale

An historic letter from Bonnie Prince Charlie stars in Colchester’s Reeman Dansie’s February Fine Art sale, together with a miniature portrait of the Prince and a lock of his hair. 

The group of Jacobite rarities were discovered amongst a superb collection of antiques from a house clearance in North Essex; over 250 lots from the Georgian townhouse will feature in the three-day February sale running from February 18 to 20. 

The letter, addressed Patrick Murray, Fifth Lord Elibank, a known Jacobite sympathiser, is by family descent, and will be of significant interest to historians and collectors alike, falling within the timeline of the 1745 Jacobite uprising.

Signed ‘Charles PR’ (Prince Regent) and written from Holyroodhouse, during Charlie’s brief tenure in the Royal Scottish palace, it implores the receiver, in veiled terms, to use his influence in England, amongst the nobles, to support the Jacobite cause.

The letter is estimated at £1,000-2,000, and is offered alongside a lock of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s hair estimated at £200-300 and an 18th-century portrait miniature of the young pretender, estimated at £300-500.

A very extensive album from the same source, including a number of letters from Charles’ father ‘The Old Pretender’, also features in the sale, offered at £3,000-5,000.

Elsewhere in the same sale is an exceptional collection of vertu, portrait miniatures and bijouterie from an Essex deceased Estate.

The Regency glazed table cabinet and contents illustrated here, are amongst the 150 plus lots in the sale; it was discovered at the eleventh hour, during the clearance of the property, locked and the contents obscured by a thick gauze, the unveiling was something of a Howard Carter moment, and an Edwardian notebook discovered alongside, lists the contents, confirming that the jewel cabinet appears to have been assembled in the 19th century, with gifts from titled friends and family.