Sotheby's Royal & Noble Regalia

We were honoured to be asked by Sotheby's to showcase their Highland Dress Regalia Fit for a Clan Chief

Description: The Macleans of Ardgour Regalia:

A cased set of Victorian Highland dress accessories, circa 1871, supplied by Millidge & Sons, Edinburgh the oak case with a fitted blue baise interior and a printed retailers label for 'Millidge & Sons / Goldsmiths & Watchmakers / 28 Princes Street / Edinburgh', with compartments containing: a black wool and beribboned Glengarry bonnet by Alexander Cruickshank & Sons, Edinburgh; a pair of engraved pistols (23cm. long; 9in.); a silver-metal mounted 'Cairngorm' set decorative powder horn, the mounts profusely decorated with the flowers of the Union and with an applied Maclean clan badge, the larger stone foil-backed, with three securing rings (33.5cm. wide; 13¼in.); a large Celtic revival silver-metal plaid brooch mounted with faceted and cabochon Cairngorms, profusely worked with thistles (12cm. wide; 4¾in.); a smaller Celtic revival gem-set silver-metal brooch (5cm. wide; 2in.); two silver mounted carved ebony and gem-set sgian-dubh, each with a leather scabbard, one possibly associated; two small silver-metal garter-buckles, decorated with thistles; a silver mounted dress sporran with a silver cantle finely worked with thistles and centred by an engraved coat of arms for Maclean by Millidge & Son (Edwin Millidge), Edinburgh, 1871, with three woven and coiled silver-thread tassels on a white horsehair ground, the purse of maroon tooled leather; with two interchangeable silver-metal (unmarked) dark horsehair tassels (width of cantle 15.5cm.; 6¼in.); a large silver-metal mounted and gem-set Highland dirk, with ebony hilt, the scabbard fitted with a knife and fork and an applied cartouche engraved with the Maclean crest, the steel blade marked 'Millidge & Son, Edinburgh' (45.5cm. long; 18in.) with a sewn leather strap and belt, a pair of paste shoe buckles (5cm. wide; 2in.) and a pair of polished steel examples; twelve foil-backed faceted paste buttons, two silver-metal chains (123cm. long and 121cm. long; 48½in., 3ft. 22¾in.) together with a leather belt with silver-metal buckle with applied thistle and Maclean crest, the reverse stamped 'Meyer & Mortimer' and a black leather shoulder strap, the mounts profusely worked with thistles and engraved with the Maclean crest and motto, similarly marked Meyer & Mortimer', the oak case with brass mounts and with a central plaque to the lid engraved 'A.T. Maclean ESQ^R of Ardgour' below the Maclean crest, lacking one small plaid brooch and possibly a pair of garter-buckles case 10cm. high, 94cm. wide, 47cm., 4in., 3ft. 1¼in., 1ft. 6½in.

Auction Lot2 - Starting on the 7th January 2021

https://www.sothebys.com/en/digital-catalogues/royal-noble-1

Provenance:

Almost certainly supplied or presented to Alexander Thomas Maclean, 15th Laird of Ardgour 1835-1890;
Thence by descent. The date of the hallmark on the cantle of the sporran is telling as it around the time of the death of the 14th Laird, Alexander Maclean (1799-1872) and suggests that the group was acquired to mark the succession of the 15th Laird.

FIT FOR A CLAN CHIEF: auction lot2, HIGHLAND DRESS ACCESSORIES FOR THE MACLEANS OF ARDGOUR,

CIRCA 1871, SUPPLIED BY MILLIDGE & SONS OF EDINBURGH

Thanks to Lucy Brown - Head of Sotherby's Scotland - Photography by Jamie Bennett (@jamieblairbennett)