Lot 36
A 19TH CENTURY FRENCH SILVER-PLATED NAVAL ARTILLERY SEAL SET
RETAILED BY M. BRONDET, TOULON, FRANCE
Auction: 16 September 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
Comprising, a letter opener, a seal both with anchor shaped finials and monogram engraved to the matrix of the seal, and blade of letter opener, and a whistle, all presented in a fitted case with silk interior, retailed by ‘M. Brondet, Carré du Port TOULON’
Dimensions
22cm long
Provenance
Provenance: Professor Robert Knecht (1926-2023), Birmingham, thence by descent. This seal set is reputed to have been inherited by Robert Knecht from his mother's father, a Captain Mioux, from the Blois region, Loire Valley, France.
Professor Knecht was a historian of 16th-century France. A lecturer and later professor at the University of Birmingham from the late 1950s until his retirement in 1994, he was the author of 20 monographs, and his book ‘The French Renaissance Court’ (2008) was awarded the Enid McLeod prize by the Franco-British Society in 2009.