Auction of Ceylon memorabilia
View(s):Items of Ceylon memorabilia, colonial furniture, curios, antique prints and maps, as well as historical books on Sri Lanka, from the collection of Royston Ellis will be sold by auction next Saturday and Sunday, September 8 and 9.
When he settled in Sri Lanka 38 years ago, British author Royston Ellis began collecting items relating to Sri Lanka’s heritage, railways and plantation bungalows, as he researched for information for his many books about Sri Lanka.
His collection includes a valuable first edition (1901) with gold embossed hard covers of “Golden Tips” by H W Cave about tea and trains,a rare naval chart plotting the depth of the water off the shores around Ceylon and the Maldives, printed in Paris in 1839, and a map printed in 1740 showing Ceylon and the trade winds.
There are unusual items such as cigarette cards, one depicting a planter on horseback in 1908 and others of various steam engines, as well as a unique matchbox label bearing a portrait of Queen Victoria with a printing error of a reversed “N” in “Queen”.
These and other items will be auctioned on Saturday and Sunday, September 8 and 9 by Schokman and Samerawickreme Ltd at their sales- room, 63,Isipathana Mawatha, Colombo 5.