Birmingham jeweller's royal collection

Nov 27 2009 by Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM jeweller David Johnson thinks the Royal Family are a shining example to us all – and has an impressive collection of rare regal artefacts.

David has now beaten bidders from all over the world to collect further exotic Royal Family antiques, including an ivory trowel used to dig the foundation stone at Solihull Civic Hall in 1960.

David snapped up three unique items at a recent Christie’s auction of more than 300 Royal Family heirlooms.

David, of Rex Johnson Jewellers, said: “There was a saleroom full of people and they were taking bids from all over the world – there were over 10,000 bids in total, from Bogota to Sydney.

“I bought three pieces, including an ivory trowel engraved with the Solihull coat of arms. The inscription says the trowel was ‘used by HRH The Duchess of Kent when laying the foundation stone of Solihull Civic Hall on October 27, 1960’.

“I also bought a George V silver treasure inkstand and a desk set which had belonged to the Duke of Kent.”

The three items were among 300 auctioned at Mayfair sale, which smashed predictions, with lots selling up to quadruple their estimates. Highlights of the sale included four George III mahogany hall benches bought by Queen Mary, which went for £350,500.

Most of the lots came from the collection of Prince George, who died in 1942 at the age of 39 when he crashed his plane into a mountain in Scotland. Other materials were donated by Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, with many raising cash for charity.

Christie’s later revealed that the auction had realised a total of £2,079,713, doubling pre-sale expectations.

David’s collection of artefacts includes tie pins given by the Duchess of Windsor to the Duke and binoculars used by Princess Margaret.