A MAGNIFICENT George V gold Freedom Casket enamelled with the arms of the County Borough of Newport is going under the hammer on Tuesday.
Made by silversmiths S Blanckensee & Son Ltd of Birmingham and dated 1924, the rectangular casket is decorated with Newport views of St Paul’s National School, Commercial Street and Newport Harbour, while the back has panels of St Paul’s Church and the GWR Chepstow Castle steam locomotive.
The interior has crushed cream satin lining and presentation plaque, also containing the scroll pronouncing ‘The Right Honourable James Henry Thomas’ an ‘Honourary Freeman of the County Borough of Newport’.
The presentation inscription reads: Presented to the Right Honourable James Henry Thomas MP His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, by a few friends on his being made an Honourable Freeman of his native town of Newport, Mon, on May 8 1924.
J.H. Thomas, in spite of leaving school at just 12 years old, had a remarkable career as a trade unionist and Labour politician.
The piece has an estimate of £15,000 to £20,000, and is one of the highlights at the Matthew Barton Ltd auction in London.
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