Wallis & Wallis

Biography

The Lewes office of Wallis & Wallis was opened shortly after the Second World War and was an extension of an estate agency formed many years earlier in Guildford.

The late Major J P S Wallis came to Lewes to open the new office, which was mainly concerned with selling properties and estate management.

Just after the war sporting guns and fishing tackle were scarce and Major Wallis started to hold auction sales of these items. Included in one such sale were some antique weapons, removed from the gunroom of a large house. The sale was a great success and consequently further sales of antique arms were held.

At first these sales took place twice a year, then quarterly, then every other month and now approximately every 5-6 weeks or 9 times a year.

Major Wallis was forced to retire in mid 1962 due to ill health and, sadly, died in November 1962. One of his great ambitions, unfortunately never realised, was to conduct his one hundredth sale.

Some of the record auction prices realised in those early sales are as follows:

Sale 73 (July 1960) Lot 596 "A rare "Emsdorf" helmet of the 15th Light Dragoons, c1815...Good Condition for age" - £135;

Sale 85 (October 1961) Lot 843 "An extremely rare 7 barrelled .30 flintlock boxlock pepperbox revolver,...by H Nock, London, London proved, the barrels (6 around 1 in centre) numbered and revolved by hand,...Good Working Order and Condition.." £310;

Sale 95 (October 1962) Lot 950 "An extremely historic, rare and desirable pair of 5 shot .31 Colt Root's patent sidehammer percussion revolvers..contained in their original blue velvet lined brass bound rosewood case, complete with Colt pocket flask, Colt mould with traces of gilding, nipple key/turnscrew, oil bottle, etc, the lid engraved "1872 His Highness The Maharajah of Jeypore, G.C.S.I". These revolvers were in good working order and condition and realised £575.

Another notable lot to pass through the Wallis and Wallis rooms appeared in the Spring Connoisseur Collectors' Auction of 2002 when £32,000 was obtained for a pin-fire revolver used by Winston Churchill during his escape from the Boers during the War in South Africa 1899.

Wallis and Wallis are now up in their mid four hundredth sale and are now purely auctioneers.

Since 1987 the firm has been handling successful regular auctions of Die-cast and Tinplate toys. Since then many collections have been handled with notable prices realised:

in August 1989 a Britains military marching band with steel helmets realised £2,200;

in November 1993 the auction included a Bassett Lowke 0 gauge English Deltic locomotive and a Hornby Flying Scotsman locomotive, each lot realised £2,100;

in May 1994 a Dinky Guy warrior Heinz van realised £2,200;

in April 1997 a rare Yesteryear Y16 1904 Spyker car in maroon realised £1,800 and, more recently

in October 2001 a Marklin tinplate clockwork liner c 1935 realised £2,050.

Wallis and Wallis's sole premises are in West Street, Lewes, in an elegant Edwardian building. The auctions usually take place on a Monday for Tinplate and Diecast Toys and Tuesday for the Arms & Armour, Militaria auctions. These can be extended to a third day.

Twice a year Connoisseur Collectors auctions are held in which items of either superior quality, condition or rarity are offered. These sales take place in May and October. Other catalogues may be issued during the year if complete collections are offered. A full list of forthcoming sale dates can be found on this site.

The Wallis and Wallis house record to date was realised in 1993 when, included in their Spring Connoisseur Collectors Auction (Lot 140), a .44 Smith & Wesson No 3 New Model revolver bearing the following engraving on the sideplate "Bob Ford killed Jesse James with this revolver at St Joseph, Mo 1882" and with full provenance, realised £105,000.