Harry’s handmade card and Andrew Brownsword designs sent by Diana set for auction
A hand-made Christmas card by Prince Harry is vying with branded greeting cards sent by his late mum Princess Diana and aunt Sarah Ferguson to be the top lot at an auction this week.
The cards will all be going under the hammer at Dominic Winters Auctioneers in Gloucestershire tomorrow, 22 November – the same auction house that sold a pair of naughty Emotional Rescue cards sent by Diana for £7,000 back in May, almost double the estimate.
This time it’s the Duke Of Sussex’s childhood artwork which has top billing, with a guide price of £1,000 to £1,500 for the “folded dark grey paper with colour cut-outs of circles, diamonds, hearts, etc., pasted to front cover and inside pages”, as the auction catalogue describes it.
It’s up against two Andrew Brownsword humour designs sent by Diana, and humorous cards from Paperlink, The Dog’s Doodahs/Funkypigeon.com, Carlton Cards, Moonpig.com, Camden Graphics, Bill Kimpton/Rainbow Cards, Andrew Brownsword, and Quitting Hollywood sent by the Duchess Of York.
The cards come from the personal collection of the recipient, addressed as both Nicki and Nickie, and auctioneer Chris Albury, who specialises in books, manuscripts, ephemera and photography for Dominic Winters, told PG Buzz: “The Nicki mentioned has to remain anonymous I’m afraid.
“They feel a bit guilty about selling these personal items and, while there will be some people who might know still living, eg Sarah Ferguson, we had an agreement not to divulge anything else, even at the risk of this affecting the values.”
Harry’s design could be seen as predicting his eventual move to America with wife Meghan as he’s spelt out Love Harry in letters cut from stars and stripes paper along with a matching heart, and it comes complete with his finger marks.
The lot includes three strips of red, bronze, and burgundy satin gift ribbon with “Happy Christmas from Charles, Diana, William and Harry” printed in gilt, and the description continues: “Nicki, the recipient of the card, was given this birthday card by Harry when he was three or four years old. Diana told her that Harry had made it specially (but possibly with some assistance from Diana). The ribbons, as the gift tags below, were kept as souvenirs from various presents given to Nicki.”
With a £300-£500 estimate, lot 260 is the Andrew Brownsword card Diana sent to Nicki with a copyright date of 1982 showing colour cartoons by Dino on the front saying “It’s your birthday…make a real hog of yourself…! Have a whale of a time!…Generally panda yourself… and to finish off a simply perfect day…” and inside the punchline reads “…get as xxxxxd as a newt! Hic!” As well as the princess’ signature, she’s written “W’s pawprint” by a black pen mark.
And lot 267 is another Brownsword card having the same estimate, copyright date 1987, also showing Dino cartoons of a cat dressed for a party with the caption, “I suppose you think that you’re pretty special because you’re having a birthday today…”, and the punchline inside reads “…Well, you’d be pretty special even if you weren’t having a birthday!!”
The Sarah Ferguson bundle is lot 280 and includes nine signed birthday cards, all to Nicki or Nicola, has a £150-£200 estimate, and one is a die-cut Camden Graphics design by Thompson with 1992 pencilled on the back, and the front has “You’ve seen Earthquake, you’ve seen Jaws, you’ve seen the killer bees. Now prepare to face…” with the punchline “…the towering inferno!” inside and a drawing of a cake with hundreds of candles.
The Photographs, Autographs & Historic Documents, Royalty, Film & Sports Memorabilia sale is on tomorrow, starting at 10am with 421 lots including documents and papers with royal collections; two England football caps awarded to Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney in the 50s; signed photos of actors, sports stars and models; and a series of photos of people and scenes from the early 1900s in China.
The catalogue also shows a series of royal Christmas cards from various recipients featuring the late Queen Elizabeth II with Prince Philip and their children Charles and Anne, the late Queen Mother and also with her husband King George VI, then Charles and Diana as Prince And Princess Of Wales with Princes William and Harry.
