Invitations to the Waterloo hero’s 1852 state funeral are included and are expected to fetch over £1,200 on Saturday.
By Amaris Cole, Andrew Magee, Sacha Mahoor, Edd Paul and Nicola Stewart
Rare Duke of Wellington artefacts will ignite a bidding war at a Chertsey auction house this Saturday.
Invitations to the Waterloo hero’s 1852 state funeral are included in the lot, which is expected to fetch over £1,200.
Wellers Auctioneers are finally selling the historic collection after reserving the items for one of their prestigious antique sales.
The set also includes one of the Duke’s handwritten letters and a piece of decorative velvet used to cover his coffin.
Specialist Valuer at the auction house, Jane Brown, said due to their historic value and condition, the pieces are an interesting find.
“It’s nice to have the full set of items,” she said.
“It has the tickets to the funeral as well as the bits and bobs that went with it, such as the funeral pall cloth.”
The war hero and former Tory prime minister was no stranger to the celebrity spotlight, yet responded to every letter he received.
Professor Chris Woolgar, Head of Special Collections at the University of Southampton, explained interest in collecting the Iron Duke’s memorabilia increased during the 1900s.
“The Duke of Wellington was hounded by autograph hunters in his day,” he said.
The state owns around 35% of the Duke’s correspondence, but many letters are privately owned because of their high cost.
Wellers has seen a recent increase in online bids and expects this auction to follow a similar pattern.
Other royal memorabilia to be sold include an invitation to Edward VII’s coronation and tickets to Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
Ms Brown said: “They are quite unusual items. We do have a lot of ephemera but these are quite special tickets so it’s a nice section.”
The auction begins at 9:30am, with the royal collection expected to sell from 2:15pm.
For more information, contact Wellers on 01932 568678.
