PREVIEW: JEWELLERY, WATCHES, SILVER AND OBJECTS OF VERTU: 28 NOVEMBER

Louis Osman (1914-96) was an architect, artist, goldsmith, silversmith and medallist whose achievements in any one of his fields of expertise would have satisfied the ambitions of most professionals.

Together they constituted an outstanding body of work whose crowning glory was the coronet designed for the investiture of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1969.

Formerly privileged to sell the Personal Archive of Louis Osman, in March 2018, Noonans are delighted to once more be offering the opportunity to appreciate Osman’s talents. The auction to be held on 28 November will include a small collection of jewellery, silver and artworks by Osman, all with highly personal connections, and with a combined high estimate of more than £14,000.

A silver and gold ruby set necklace dating to 1974-5 had been commissioned from Osman by his friend Branton Streeton, the vendor’s grandfather, as a gift for his wife Gertrude on the occasion of their ruby wedding anniversary.

The silver- and gold-mounted pendant is composed of four hand-fashioned drops, each cupped disc inset with a rough ruby crystal matrix, the drops attached to a linear framework and suspended from a baton-link chain with hook fastener, the reverse stamped with Osman’s maker’s mark ‘LO’.

The lot comes with a handwritten letter from Osman illustrating the small additional hook made to enable the wearer to shorten the necklace. The letter, addressed from Byford Court to ‘Branton’, and written shortly before Christmas 1974, adds a PS (postscript) which reads:

“I made it (the necklace) make directions towards the cleavage but if Gert wants to wear it shorter, she will find a little gold hook two down from the centre back…” The letter referenced the cost of the necklace as being ‘£250’. Two further letters to ‘Brant’ from Osman, the first typed and dated 1 July 1975, the second undated, referred to the payments and alterations considered for the necklace chain. The pendant length is 7cm, the gross length of the necklace being approximately 30cm. It is estimated at £5,000-6,000.

Also on offer is a gold and diamond ring, which Osman created in 1970 for his daughter Marie-Louise, who bequeathed it to the current vendor. The broad concave planished band is applied with a square mounting suspending a stylised tassel of three graduating bars, each with a cube terminal inset with a faceted diamond. The ring is offered for sale with the original pen and watercolour drawing, annotated by Louis Osman, and reading:

‘M. L. O. Ring
3 hanging diamonds in square cube settings.
Electrum. LO’

The ring formed part of the OSMAN Exhibition held in May 1974 at Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire. This ring was numbered 93 of the 131-exhibit display, a ground-breaking exhibition. A copy of the printed exhibition catalogue is included with this lot. The lot has an estimate of £2,000-3,000.

An 18ct gold scarab set ring by Louis Osman, dating to 1976, was a gift for his wife Dilys, and refashioned from an engagement ring. Inherited by their daughter Marie-Louise, it was passed on to the current vendor.

The antique scarab set within a granulated mount, and later applied to a broad tapering band, carries a full London hallmark and maker’s mark and is estimated to fetch £2,000-3,000.

An unusual set of six silver-inset yew wood trencher place settings completes the Osman pieces in the sale. Inherited by Louis Osman’s daughter Marie-Louise, they were also later bequeathed to the current vendor.

Each setting has a principal silver plate and two small ‘condiment’ dishes, all hand-wrought and with posthumous Britannia standard hallmarks for the London Assay Office, 1997. The plates are 23cm in diameter, the dishes 6cm, and the trenchers are 26 x 39cm each.

“It seems that Louis Osman has here re-interpreted mediaeval and early modern ‘high table’ formal dining, where a side plate was provided for utensils and napkin and small dishes for salt and condiment/spices, food then being served and eaten from the trencher,” says Noonans’ Head of Jewellery, Frances Noble.

“The use of the Britannia standard is consistent with silver wrought by Louis Osman. The absence of his personal hallmark suggests that this set was either for the use of himself and his family or was intended as a gift or private commission; the presence of a posthumous London Assay Office sponsor mark dated for the year after Osman’s death may indicate an intention to offer for sale subsequently.”

The estimate is £1,500-£2,000.

A collection of early pencil drawings and artworks by Louis Osman, many pieces circa 1930, includes student pencil sketches of Cotswold buildings (Chipping Campden etc.), portraits, a juvenile watercolour painted at the age of 6 years old, another at the age of 8 years etc. Formerly from the Personal Archive of Louis Osman, sold at Dix Noonan Webb on 27 March 2018, they are offered here with an estimate of £100-150.