3 Scots Maids All in a Row & 2 Mysteries at Auction

Lot 817 at Willingham Auctions, Cambridge on 25 June will be this darling set of 4 framed alphabetical samplers, embroidered between 1784 and 1790. The outer pair were worked by Peggy Lennox, the longest one by Cicilia Lennox and the second from right by Agnes Kincaid. The estimate for all four is £200 - £400. To visit the auction website click here.

And here is Mystery #1 - lot 370 with an estimate of £80 - £120 for auction at Woolley and Wallis, Salisbury on 5th July. It is a George III needlework sampler apparently signed by James Eleanora Brown, October 13th 1795. It is worked with an alphabet and numbers and the text: There is nothing of so much worth as a mind well instructed. It measures 8.25 x 12.25in (21 x 31cm), in a later glazed frame and has repairs.

And here you can see a close-up of that name. So, while samplers by boys are rare but not unknown, is this sampler by a boy? And was his middle given name really Eleanora? Could these names have been the names of parents? What do you think? To visit the auction website, click here.

Mellors and Kirk, Nottingham are temporary custodians of Mystery #2. Lot 413 is a pair of early 19th century samplers without estimate for sale on 24 June. Most noticeable on the first sampler of the lot, a darning sampler, is the presence of a non-Roman alphabet above the top row of numbers and also above the central panel.

An identical alphabet is also present on the second sampler of the lot, although much less visible, it can be found above the top alphabet. Any ideas what language this might be? To visit the auction web-site, click here.