Dame of Sark’s invalid carriage sells above its estimated price

The lot was one of a number of historical pieces on offer at yesterday’s Martel Maides auction.

The fief, which is in St Martin’s, had an estimate of between £8,000 and £10,000.

But it ended up selling for £17,000.

The Fief Massy Gros title does not include the ownership of any land, but rather the feudal overlordship of an area, and the rights are purely honorific.

Auction room manager Jason Yendell said there was a lot of interest in the fief.

‘We had three telephone bidders,’ he said.

‘It went to a local person.’

Another interesting lot to sell well above its estimate was the Dame of Sark’s invalid carriage.

The vintage tricycle is the first used by the Dame of Sark, Sibyl Hathaway. It had an estimate of between £1,000 and £1,200, and was sold for £1,850.

‘We had lots of bidding on it,’ Mr Yendell said.

‘There was some bidding on the internet, so we are not sure who the winning bidder is yet.’

A number of the lots were sculptures or paintings by Sark artists Leslie Harradine and his wife Molly McCann.

The one raising the most money was a 1974 painting by Molly McCann of an Indian Princess, an attendant and lions. It had an estimate of between £300 and £400, but sold for £1,100.

‘We were pleased,’ Mr Yendell said.

‘With these sorts of sales, it is quite specialised, so we never know how it is going to go.’

Another popular lot was a rare group of five consecutive States of Guernsey £1 bank notes, dated from 15 October 1918.

They are brown and orange, with a view of Castle Cornet printed on them.

They were valued at between £9,000 and £10,000, but were sold for £12,500.