December 8th - 10th 2011 Premier (04)
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/9/2011
European, probably German. Includes five vintage figures which are Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, an African child, coachman and footman. Very unusual and interesting piece. In 1849, a young African girl was rescued from a bloody sacrifice by the British captain of the HMS Bonetta, Commander Frederick E. Forbes, who convinced the Dahomian King Gezo to offer the girl as a gift to Queen Victoria. She was named Sarah Forbes and was taken to England where she became Queen Victoria's protege. The Dahomians were a slave trading tribe so Sarah Forbes went from this environment to riding in a carriage with Queen Victorian and Prince Albert as depicted here c. 1850. There was a book written about this African girl titled "At Her Magesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England" by Walter Dean Myers (published 1999, Scholastic Press).Carriage itself has some restoration.