Stitching together old memories

A Victorian sewing book featuring the handiwork of Chasetown schoolgirls and a Fijian war weapon which once belonged to a Lichfield canon are set to go under the hammer at auction.

The items are due to be sold at the fine arts and antiques auction at the Lichfield Rugby Club, Tamworth Road, from 10am on February 19 being held by auctioneer Charles Hanson.

Mr Hanson is hoping the sewing book might spark some recognition among the descendants of the young seamstresses who worked on the patterns back in 1897.

With a guide price of £200 to £300 he hopes the book will be snapped up by a local museum or collector who would keep it for exhibition in Staffordshire. Mr Hanson said: "Each sample of a sewn stitch or textile pattern is inscribed with the name of the young lady who worked on the piece.

"Most entries are for local Chasetown and Cannock girls aged from nine to 11-years-old."

Among the names in the book are Maggie Jones, aged nine, Nellie Barrow, aged 11, and Mabel French, aged eight.

He added: "The folder had originally been discovered by our client's father who was emptying a sweet shop on Queen Street in Chasetown in the 1920s."

Also going under the hammer is a 19th century Fijian war club, thought to have been carved from the root of a small tree in Fiji in the 1830s.

More than 150 years later, the fearsome weapon was discovered lurking in the attic of a house in Shenstone. Hansons has set a guide price of £300 to £500 for the club.