Rare drinking glass bought for £43,000 at Shropshire auction

The Jacobite Amen glass, one of fewer than 40 known examples in the world, was snapped up by a telephone bidder from London at Halls in Shrewsbury yesterday.

It was part of a private collection being sold at the auction house with £265,000 taken on the first of two days.

The Lennoxlove Amen glass, made in the 1750s and engraved with two verses of the Jacobite anthem, was expected to sell for between £20,000 and £30,000.

• Scroll down to watch Halls director Jeremy Lamond discuss the history of the glass

Amen Jacobite drinking glasses celebrated the movement that plotted against the protestant kings of the 17th and 18th centuries.

They were passed around in groups devoted to the restoration of a Catholic monarch in Scotland and England under the House of Stuart.

The last Jacobite Rebellion ended with Charles Edward Stuart's defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. His image features on some of the glassware in the auction.

The glass was part of a single owner collection of antiques and fine art being sold.

The collection belonged to the late Edward V Phillips, a corn merchant who retired with his wife from the Cotswolds to the Powys-Shropshire border, near Knighton.

He began collecting in the 1970s, selecting only the best pieces for his collection.

Halls' fine art director Jeremy Lamond said that at the time people caught with Jacobite Amen glasses would be harshly dealt with.

He said: "For those caught with such articles, penalties were severe, including imprisonment and, sometimes, execution.

"The secret Jacobite toast, however, continued to be honoured throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and the emblems of Jacobitism, the rose and buds, Jacob's ladder, images of Charles Edward himself, adorned Mr Phillips's glassware.

"Rarest of all Jacobite glasses are the Amen group of wine glasses. Mr Phillips was lucky enough to own the Baird of Lennoxlove Amen glass."

Halls' spokesman Duncan Foulkes said the firm was expecting Mr Phillips's items to reach good prices at the auction.

He said: "There is a huge interest in Jacobite items and they always seem to do well at auction. It is an interesting part of history.

"Mr Phillips had built up a superb collection over a number of years and Halls was expecting the items to reach good prices.

"Mr Phillips, who died in December, was very well respected in the community after he came to the area from the Cotswolds after his retirement.

"He did well as a corn merchant and led quite a quiet life in the Knighton area with his wife but was always very interested in building up his collection.

"He took some very good advice over the years as can be seen by the items up for auction and the prices paid for the items. He only bought the best and that is being reflected at the auction."

The auction continues today and Halls say that they would not be surprised if the total reaches the half a million pounds mark.

Also sold from the Jacobite glass collection yesterday was a £12,000 wine glass, circa 1750, engraved with a full face portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart the Young Pretender. A goblet sold for £8,200 and an engraved 1745 decanter for £5,200.

Books were also keenly sought after, with a Bible dated 1589 making £5,600, The Book of Common Prayer, First Edition, First Issue, printed in 1662 making £4,000 and Sermons of Master John Calvin Upon The Book of Job selling for £2,600.