Lot 364
GROUP OF ROYAL INTEREST PRESENTATION BOXES
MID TO LATE 20TH CENTURY
Auction: Lots 336 - 597 | 05 September at 10am
Description
most gifted to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Eric Penn, GCVO, OBE, MC (British 1916-1993), or his wife Lady Penn, by members of the Royal family or visiting Heads of State, to include a sodalite and agate hardstone box, an Italian tiger's eye and marble hardstone box, a Japanese Showa period black and gilt lacquer box decorated with bamboo, and a similar red and gilt lacquer box decorated with cherry blossoms, and an engraved white metal cigarette box inside a blue presentation case (5)
Provenance
Provenance: Select items from the estate of the late Lady Penn
Sodalite box - Given to Sir Eric by the President of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi, during his State visit to HM Queen Elizabeth II, June 1979
Italian tigers eye - Given to Sir Eric as a Christmas gift by HRH Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Black and Red lacquer boxes - Given to Sir Eric by The Emperor Hirohito of Japan during his State visit to HM Queen Elizabeth II, October 1971
White metal cigarette box - Given to Lady Penn by King Hussein I and Queen Noor of Jordan, likely on a private visit to Jordan with HRH Princess Margaret in the 1990s
Footnote
Note: Sir Eric Penn served the Queen with dedication for almost half-a-century; for twenty four years in the Grenadier Guards, appointed in 1963 as an Extra Equerry to Her majesty, then becoming Comptroller in the Lord Chamberlain's Office from 1964 until 1981. Not only was he trusted implicitly by the Queen but they were also long-standing personal friends who had known each other in their younger days. He was brought up by his uncle, Sir Arthur Penn, one of King George VI's advisers, and subsequently the Queen Mother's treasurer and private secretary. He met the then Princess Elizabeth soon after he returned from Dunkirk in 1940. He married Lady Prudence (Prue) Penn in 1947, who herself was a loyal friend of Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret and lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother.