Roman pot, found in Swindon, among auction highlights

TONY Robinson and his Time Team will be kicking themselves for missing this one, but a substantial Roman pot, dug up near Swindon last summer, will be auctioned by Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester next month.

The pot, which measures 2ft tall by one-and-a-half feet wide and has a mouth 12 inches across, was found in pit with other Roman artefacts in June 2008 during excavations for a garage at Cricklade Road, Highworth, not far from Ermin Street, which connected the Roman towns of Glevum (Gloucester) and Silchester in Hampshire via Corinium (Cirencester).

The pot has contemporary clay ‘stitching’ down one side, suggesting it was broken and then mended by its Roman owners.

“What makes this pot so interesting,” said auctioneer Philip Allwood, is its sheer size. It is incredible that it has been so well preserved for so long. If Tony Robinson dug one of these up it would be a real highlight of an episode of Time Team.”

The pot carries an estimate of £800 to £1,200.

From Roman Britain to the Age of Steam, two five-inch gauge scale models of locomotives from the 1950s are bound to attract interest among collectors. The so-called ‘garden scale’ trains include one loco with a coal tender, and one loco without a tender. Each comes on its own piece of display track and each carries an estimate of £2,000 to £3,000.

Among the rarest of the antiques in the sale is a full set of eleven Wilkinson Toby jugs depicting Allied leaders from the First World War, including prime minister David Lloyd George, admiral ‘Hell Fire Jack’ Jellicoe, field marshall Sir Douglas Haig, King George V, Lord Kitchener and American president Woodrow Wilson.

The jugs were designed by Sir Francis Carruthers Gould and were issued in limited numbers starting in 1917 – while war still raged in Europe – and concluding in 1919.

“The least common figures were produced in collections of 250, meaning there can only be 250 complete sets of all eleven leaders. It is incredibly rare for a full set to come to auction,” said Philip.

Each of the jugs stands between nine and twelve inches tall, and the set is expected to achieve between £4,000 and £6,000.

The Selected Sale of Antiques takes place at the Norcote salerooms, near Cirencester, on Friday, March 6 from 10am.

Roman Pot	Toby Jugs