AN ANTIQUE doll, given as a gift by Queen Victoria and handed down through the generations, is due to be sold at auction next month.
The doll, dressed in pink and mounted under a glass dome, was presented to Annie Joy in 1899, when she was a baby at Ventnor’s Royal National Hospital for tuberculosis.
It was lost after Miss Joy’s death in 1975, only to be reunited with her niece, Joan Smith, following an appeal in the County Press.
Mrs Smith’s son, Mark Smith, decided it was time to sell the doll after taking it along to TV auction show Flog It!, an episode of which was filmed at Cowes Yacht Haven earlier this month. He inherited the doll when Mrs Smith died four years ago.
“Paul Martin, from Flog It!, said it was a German doll from the 1850s, worth £300 to £400,” said Mark, 54, of St John’s Hill, Ryde. I will be a bit sad to see it go but it’s just collecting dust now. Mum always said to sell it if that’s what I wanted.”
The doll will be auctioned at Island Auction Rooms, Shanklin, on June 16.
Director Hugh Riches said the doll was in good condition and likely to attract a lot of interest from collectors.
“We get loads and loads of dolls but the historical element with this one adds value,” he said.
“I think the story behind it is the important selling point.”
Reporter: emilyp@iwcpmail.co.uk