Canadian Air Ace Honoured At Last

de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre buys archive that proves who flew the first Mosquito fighter bomber

An archive of photographs and documents tracing the career of legendary de Havilland director Harry Povey which had been rescued from a waste skip some years ago were rescued again in a sale at Nantwich, Cheshire, fine art and antiques auctioneers Peter Wilson. Fittingly, it was purchased by the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre.

The archive, which was presented to Povey in 1958 to mark his retirement after 35 years' service to the company, was found some years ago and had until recently been kept in a private collection. It comprised several albums containing numerous fascinating photos featuring the company's iconic aircraft but also original telegrams which recalled how a Canadian air ace helped give the Allies dominance in the skies over Europe.

The aircraft company's famous de Havilland DH98 Mosquito was conceived amid great secrecy during the most desperate days of the Second World War. The idea of a fast, light, unarmed bomber made mostly of wood was as unorthodox as it was brilliant. The decision to manufacture the Mosquito in Canada was made early on because British factories were being bombed regularly by the Luftwaffe, and there was still some danger of invasion. Harry Povey (1890-1967) was sent to Toronto to oversee its production with just a year to complete the project, easily the greatest achievement of his career.

Geoffrey de Havilland Jr., was to have piloted the plane's test flight, but when he was delayed by bad weather, young Canadian air ace Ralph "Sprad" Spradbrow was drafted in but never accorded the credit officially because of a news blackout.

One telegram in the album put the record straight. Dated September 23, 1942, the telegram was from Ralph P. Bell Director General Aircraft Production in Canada to Frank Hearle at de Havilland at Hatfield England. It read: FIRST TEST FLIGHT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THIS AFTERNOON SPRADBROW CHIEF TEST PILOT DE HAVILLAND CANADA AT CONTROLS STOP GARRATT HUNTER AND POVEY ARE ALL ENTITLED TO HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING THEIR ORIGINALLY PROJECTED SCHEDULE OF FLYING FIRST CRAFT A YEAR FROM DATE OF ARRIVAL OF POVEY AND HUNTER IN CANADA.

The sale was filmed by Canadian TV who witnessed the albums being purchased by the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre with a commission bid of £1,000. The centre, which describes itself as "The Birthplace of the Wooden Wonder" is at Salisbury Hall, near St Albans, Herts, where a prototype of the Mosquito is based.

The auction on Wednesday and Thursday, February 17-18, sprung several surprise. When Peter Wilson specialists visited a South Cheshire cottage and found a stash of around 20 paintings propped against the wall in an upstairs box room it was thought one of them would produce the highest price in the sale.

The pick of the paintings - a double-sided oil on canvas, each side painted with a rural scene by Christopher R.W. Nevinson (1889-1946) - was expected to sell for considerably more than its pre-sale estimated of £1,000-1,500 and it did not disappoint. It sold for £4,300 to a private buyer from the South of England bidding by telephone, but it was the furniture that produced the surprises.

A rare and elegant Queen Anne walnut half-moon card table emerged as the most valuable piece not just in the cottage, but also the entire two-day sale, selling for £7,200 against an estimate of £800-1,200. The table, which was illustrated full page on the inside back cover of the sale catalogue had a fold-over top, three small drawers and two candle slides on four cabriole legs.
And there was more: a good rosewood waterfall chiffonier inlaid with brass, circa 1810, with two shelves and pair of doors with panels of brass wire mesh and pleated silk was estimated at £1,800-2,000 but sold for £2,500, while a floor-standing oak corner cupboard sold for £1,050.

West View, Reaseheath, was the home of the late Mr Peter Clegg. From 1952, he lived at Poole Hall, near Nantwich, when it was purchased by his father, a gentleman farmer and Army officer, but purchased the cottage in 1989, following the death of his parents. Mr Clegg died in April last year, aged 77. The sale of the contents raised a total of £24,000.

Other high priced paintings came from other vendors. Manchester artist Geoffrey Key (b. 1941) remains a solid saleroom performer, his oil "Dancers With Reflections", signed and dated 98, selling for an above estimate £3,200, while fellow Manchester artist William Turner (b. 1920) was represented by "The Burning Bush" an oil on board which also exceeded the presale high estimate to sell for £2,300. A watercolour by Anglesey artist Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979) titled "Top Dressing with Nicholson's Drill", an example of one of the artist's commercial works, sold for £4,600.

Shrewsbury-born Nantwich artist Herbert St John Jones (fl1905-1923) was represented in the sale by a good example of his equestrian paintings depicting the racehorse "Lady Lillian", an oil on canvas which sold on top estimate for £1,500.

Top-priced 19th century work was "La Forge du Roi Louis XVI" by French artist Eugene Benjamin Fichel (1826-1895) which sold for £2,800. The oil on board in its original frame showed King Louis seated in the unlikely surroundings of a forge trying out a padlock which has been made by the blacksmith who stands alongside. Louis, husband of Marie Antoinette, is said to have amused himself by designing and making locks and had a workshop in the palace, assisted by the locksmith Francois Gamain.

An unframed floral still life oil on canvas, in the manner of Jan Baptiste Bosschaert (1667-1746), was sold together with two antique gilt picture frames, the corners carved with scrolling and flowering foliage, with an estimate of £200-400 but sold for £2,000.

The sale also included the contents of a second home, that of Mrs Rita Hiscox, a retired lecturer in English and Drama at Warwick University. Now in her nineties and in impaired health, she had moved from her Victorian home in Leamington Spa to be near her niece in St Leonards on Sea. Mrs Hiscox was an avid reader and had accumulated a sizeable library, among which was a copy of the so-called "Breeches Bible".

This now relatively rare volume is also known as the Geneva Bible, because it was first published there in 1557 by Protestants who had fled to Switzerland after Queen Mary I restored the country to Roman Catholicism. It was the first innovative English version to be translated from the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek and was also the first English Bible to contain modern verse and chapter divisions; italics to indicate words not in the original language and to change the values of ancient coins into English pound sterling equivalents.

It became popularly known as the Breeches Bible because the Geneva translators chose the improbable term "breeches" for Adam and Eve's coverings referenced in Genesis 3:7: "Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig tree leaves together, and made them selves breeches." The example in the sale dated from 1607 and was printed in London by Robert Baker. It added £480 to the £29,335 total for the collection, which also included some good jewellery.

An 18 carat gold flat curb chain of 36 cm in length was estimated at £500-550 but sold for £660, while a sapphire and diamond ring, the old European-cut stone flanked by two oval sapphires, sold for £400, although this was overshadowed by another sapphire and diamond ring from another owner. This latter ring had a central transparent stone of 8.68 carats of natural and untreated fine colour, flanked by six small old cut diamonds in unmarked white gold. It sold for an above estimate £4,400, while other jewellery included a colourless, flawless single stone marquise diamond ring, the stone weighing just over one carat, set in 18ct white gold with baguette diamond shoulders, which sold for £4,300.

Similarly precious was a 200 gram ingot of 18 carat gold shaped like a miniature bar of Cusson's Imperial Leather soap. There was nothing miniature about the £4,000 winning bid, though, which came from a collector in Portugal.The ingot, one of only three made for a national competition run by the soapmaker, was actually won by a couple who were close friends of the vendor. They had purchased a real bar of the soap as part of their weekly shopping at Asda in Crewe and entered the competition by telephoning their details to the prize hotline. When the competition was held in 1985, the ingot was judged to be worth £1,750, underling the spectacular rise in the value of precious metals.

In works of art, a good carved ivory standing figure of Maximilian I, probably German, late 19th century, in Holy Roman regalia of crown, orb, sceptre, cloak and agnus dei chain more than doubled its estimate to sell for £2,600. Adding interest to the piece was that fact that the torso of the figure hinged open as a triptych to reveal carved scenes of his coronation, his entry into Padua, and his dominion over Milan. A bronze figure of a Ploughman by the French sculptor Marcel Debut (1865-1933) sold for £1,700.

In collectors' items, some of the top names in Test cricket were represented by a small collection of autographed miniature cricket bats which had been made by the master craftsman Fred Saunders. Fred was born in Norfolk and was apprenticed at County Sports, where his job was restringing tennis rackets. He served in the RAF as an aircraft technician during the Second World War, returning to job on demobilisation. By then the factory was concentrating on cricket bats and Fred's inordinate skill saw him rise to the top of his profession.

One of his customers was the great Yorkshire and England opener who turned up unannounced at the factory where Fred worked and stood quietly for an hour or two watching the craftsman at work. Then he spoke. "My name's Geoffrey Boycott and I'm the best batsman in the world," he said with typical modesty. "You make the best bats in the world and I want you to make them for me."

The 13 bats with autographs by Boycott, fellow opened John Edrich and numerous other cricketing greats were consigned for sale by Fred's stepdaughter, who lives in Adderley, Near Market Drayton. They sold for £280.

Peter Wilson's next sale of fine art and antiques is on April 21-22 while weekly Gallery Sales are every Thursday and entries are invited. For further information, please contact the auctioneer on 01270 623878 or auctions@peterwilson.co.uk.