Auctioneers hope mower will be a goer

One man may well go to mow a meadow at Moore Allen & Innocent's next general and antiques sale, but he'll need four mates to help him lift the mower.

The pride of a collection of five petrol-driven lawn mowers – ranging from contemporary to antiquity – is a 1930s Z Type cutter by Dennis of Guildford.

With its massive grass collection bucket at the front, and seat and roller at the back, this example is the kind used by ground keepers at Windsor Castle and at other stately homes around the country – and indeed across the Empire – to produce the coveted Dennis stripe.

Collectable as well as practical, this model is expected to command bids of £100 to £150, while bids from £30 upwards are expected for contemporary mowers by Hayter, Atzo and Honda.

Bidder beware, though – the Dennis apparently takes five men to lift onto a trailer.

Well, many hands make light work, they say, and that maxim – along with many others – is almost bound to appear somewhere among a large collection of motto ware pottery, with an estimate of £200 to £300 over seven lots.

The highly-collectable pottery is peculiar to Devon, and gets its name from the designers' habit of inscribing pieces with a motto, proverb or poem.

The highly stylised pottery, which was fashionable for around 100 years from the 1860s, and is still produced today from small studios, typically features rural scenes and cottages.

These examples, mainly from the late 19th century, features tea and coffee pots, bowls and dishes, cups, saucers, cruets and more.

There's more Victorian craftwork in the works of art section, with a pair of hand-stitched silk and silver thread naval emblems in unusual carved frames featuring rats.

Each of the pieces features a lion and unicorn, a shield, a sea shell and ships masts in sail in the background. Despite being over 140 years old they are in remarkably good condition, without sign of fading, and bids of £200 to £300 for the pair are expected.

Also featuring a loose nautical theme is a circa 1880 to 1900 oak cigarette vending machine, with compartments for Players Navy Cut – with its Jack Tar emblem - as well as Silk Cut and Craven A. The vending machine takes sixpenny and one shilling pieces, and carries an estimate of £60 to £100.

Also likely to thrill collectors of smoking ephemera is a framed collection of 28 clay pipes. Manufactured in the late 19th and early 20th century, the bowls of many of the pipes are fashioned to resemble notable figures of the day, including King George V, prime minister William Gladstone, race jockey Fred Archer and General Sir Redvers Buller, hero of the Zulu wars and holder of the Victoria Cross.

The collection also features Victorian replicas of pipes from the 17th century, including a couple of churchwarden pipes, which produced a cool smoke thanks to their long stems.

Named after the church officers whose duties included poking snoozing congregants with a long stick, the style will be instantly familiar to many as the type smoked by Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies. Bids of £150 to £200 are expected for the collection.

The sale takes place in Cirencester on Friday, August 12. For a full auction catalogue, log on to www.mooreallen.co.uk

The pride of a collection of five petrol-driven lawn mowers – a 1930s Z Type cutter by Dennis of Guildford.	A small selection from a large collection of motto ware pottery, with an estimate of £200 to £300 over seven lots.
A framed collection of 28 clay pipes, the bowls of many of which are fashioned to resemble notable figures of the day, including King George V, prime minister William Gladstone, and the race jockey Fred Archer	A circa 1880 to 1900 oak cigarette vending machine
A pair of hand-stitched silk and silver thread naval emblems in unusual carved frames featuring rats