Prize money book nets £3,700 at auction
A rare manuscript detailing the prize money granted for the Battle of Waterloo and capture of Paris in 1815 has sold for £3,700 at auction in Shropshire.
The book went under the hammer in fine art auctioneers Halls’ books sale in Shrewsbury.
Pre-sale expectations were that the document would sell for over £2,000.
The Shropshire buyer held off strong competition from a specialist bidder to secure the 70-page manuscript, which was written in neat secretarial hand and contained detailed numbers of all the troops of Britain, The Netherlands, Hanover and Brunswick that fought in the battle.
Jeremy Lamond, Halls’ fine art director, was delighted with the price achieved.
“As predicted, it was an exceptionally rare document and the final price reflected that,” he said. “The manuscript attracted a lot of pre-sale interest and competitive bidding on the day.”
Other leading prices in the books section included £600 for ‘The Natural History of Staffordshire’ written by Robert Plot in 1686, £450 for ‘A Collection of One Hundred and Fifty Views in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland’ by John Boydell 1783, £360 for six volumes of the works of Jane Austen and £280 for ‘An Answer to a Challenger Made by a Jesuite in Ireland’ dated 1631.
