Nestled away in Hansons Auctions 'March 2023 Harry Potter and Library Collection' is a quite stunning piece of British Royal memorabilia.
It's a letter written by our now King Charles III to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.
A 6 year old Charles writes:
"Dear Granny, I am sorry that you are ill. I hope you will be better soon, Lots of love from Charles."
Charles finished with some colourful doodles and kisses.
The letter has been written on official Buckingham Palace headed paper and is being sold with the original envelope with a conservative estimate of £2,000 - £3,000.
The provenance states that the letter originates from Roland Stockdale, a police officer who worked for the Royal personal protection force in the 1950's.
You can follow the auction at Hansons.
But, in our opinion, the letter throws up some important questions.
It's quite incredible that such a personal letter, and family memento, from our future King has ended up at a public auction.
And how the letter arrived with Mr Stockdale is not explained.
Ownership rights and provenance are key considerations when you're building a collection of 'unique' memorabilia.
In May 2022 RR Auction immediately cancelled the sale of a collection of Moon Dust and cockroaches that was expected to sell for $400,000, after NASA disputed ownership.
You can read about that here.
And there was also the case of Ronald Reagan's blood vial, claimed to have been gifted to a nurse who helped operate on President Reagan following the assassination attempt on him in March 1981.
The vial of blood was purchased by a collector at a US auction house who then consigned it with a British auction house, before the auction was halted folllowing worldwide publicity that resulted in complaints from the Reagan family over ownership rights.
Update: Sold for £7,000.
About your Author:
Adrian Roose has over 30 years’ experience covering all aspects of the rare stamp & memorabilia industry during which he has sold over £50m of unique items, helping build collections for Royalty, household name celebrities and 1,000s of collectors around the world.
Adrian was previously a Director at Stanley Gibbons, a Board Member of Stampex, and Executive Director of Paul Fraser Collectibles, PFC Auctions and JustCollecting, prior to founding The Memorabilia Club.