A GEORGE IV ENAMELLED TWO-COLOUR GOLD AND PLATINUM PRESENTATION BOX

BY JOHN NORTHAM, LONDON, 1822

Details

Rectangular with slightly concave sides engine-turned with grain rice pattern, the cover applied with the Star of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick with the mottos PENINSULA and QUIS SEPARABIT and the arms of Hamilton with the motto THROUGH, and engraved below on a phylactery with the inscription THE OFFICERS OF THE FOURTH ROYAL IRISH DRAGOON GUARD TO THEIR MUCH ESTEEMED FRIEND MAJOR HAMILTON, on matted ground, the borders chased in high relief with Scottish thistle, Irish clover leaves and English roses, marked in the cover and base: 18 carat and maker, on the flange: town, standard, date-letter (g), 18 carat and maker
3 5/8 in. (8.5 cm.) long
Gross weight: 5 oz. 9 dwt. (171 gr.)
Provenance

Presented to Major Patrick Hamilton (b.c.1779-1824) of the 4th Irish Dragoon Guards, by his brother officers on his retirement from the regiment in 1822.
Frederick Charles Schweder (1867-1938), stockbroker and collector of 47 Lowndes Square, London SW1.
F. C. Schweder; Sotheby’s, London, 19 May 1938, lot
with A La Vieille Russie, New York.
Literature

The Illustrated London News, ‘Sotheby and Co. Advertisement’, 7 May 1938, p. 58, illustrated.
Lot Essay

Patrick Hamilton joined the 4th Irish Dragoon Guards as a cornet in 1801 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1805 and captain in 1806. He achieved the rank major in 1819, retiring in 1822. He died two years later at the age of 45 whilst staying at the Blenheim Hotel off Bond Street. He was buried at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square.
The 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1685 as the Earl of Arran's Regiment of Cuirassiers. It was renamed the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards in 1788 and served for two centuries, including the First World War, before being amalgamated with the 7th Dragoon Guards (Princess Royal's) to form the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards in 1922.