An extremely rare Jacobite Amen drinking glass has sold at the top of a collection of glassware that celebrates the movement to restore the Catholic king of England.
The glass was sold in a UK auction on November 6 for £43,000 ($68,500). It brought an impressive 43% increase on its £30,000 high estimate as one of less than 40 examples known to exist.
The Lennoxlove Amen glass was produced in the 1750s and is inscribed with two verses of the Jacobite anthem.
It would have been passed around while secret societies toasted Jacobite pretender to the throne Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, and his grandfather, King James II (1633-1701), the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign in England.
Bonnie Prince Charlie led his unsuccessful Jacobite uprising in 1746, which ended in defeat at the Battle of Culloden. This insurrection was the last major stand of the Jacobites, and effectively brought about the end of the cause.
The collection belonged to the late Edward Phillips, a merchant who began collecting the glasses in the 1970s.
"The secret Jacobite toast continued to be honoured throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and the emblems of Jacobitism, the rose and buds, Jacobs ladder, images of Charles Edward himself, adorned Mr Phillips' glassware," commented auctioneer Jeremy Lamond.
The Lennoxlove Amen glass has since been displayed at London's Victoria and Albert Museum and was photographed for Geoffrey B Seddon's authoritative work, The Jacobites and Their Drinking Glasses.
Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for more of the latest from auctions across the world.
