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Tolkien Letter - Trevanion Auctioneers & Valuers

15 Apr, 2022 (edited)
2022-4-15 5:26:02 AM UTC

Lot 186 - A hand-written letter by J.R.R. Tolkien
27th April 2022 9am BST

J.R.R. TOLKIEN INTEREST: A hand-written letter by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) on headed paper for 76 Sandfield Road, Headington, Oxford, probably written to Clemence Dane, dated "11 Sept. 1957", reading "Dear Miss Dane, I did not succeed in thanking you as I should have liked for your kindness to me in the full sense of that use-battered word: generosity and penetrating sympathy. It was a great pleasure meeting you. I wish we could have had more conversation. Yours sincerely, JRR Tolkien"

NOTE: Clemence Dane CBE is the pseudonym of English novelist and playwright Winifred Ashton (1888-1965)


Estimate £2,000 - £4,000
Unsold

https://www.easyliveauction.com/catalo ... -antique-auction-lot-186/

Clemence Dane - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clemence_Dane

TCG Letter - https://www.tolkienguide.com/guide/letters/321

10_6259019285e6c.jpg 2500X1557 px
16 Apr, 2022
2022-4-16 2:40:58 AM UTC
Lett 202 (10 Sept. 1957): “I suddenly found myself the winner of the International Fantasy Award, presented (as it says) ‘as a fitting climax to the Fifteenth World Science Fiction Convention’. What it boiled down to was a lunch at the Criterion yesterday with speeches, and the handing over of an absurd ‘trophy’. A massive metal ‘model’ of an upended Space-rocket (combined with a Ronson lighter). But the speeches were far more intelligent, especially that of the introducer: Clémence Dane, a massive woman of almost Sitwellian presence.”
27 Apr, 2022
2022-4-27 11:49:48 AM UTC
They went down to £1800 but no bids and the letter was passed.
27 Apr, 2022
2022-4-27 12:00:04 PM UTC

Trotter wrote:

They went down to £1800 but no bids and the letter was passed.

maybe people spent their money on the new FS LotR :)
13 May, 2022
2022-5-13 5:22:05 AM UTC
The letter has been re-listed at an estimate of £1000-£2000

Lot 244 - 25th May 2022 09:00 BST

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auc ... tm_content=lot-image-link
13 May, 2022
2022-5-13 5:56:16 AM UTC
Not really a terribly exciting letter, but I'm still somewhat surprised it didn't sell.
13 May, 2022
2022-5-13 9:01:30 AM UTC

Stu wrote:

Not really a terribly exciting letter, but I'm still somewhat surprised it didn't sell.

I was a little surprised considering it also relates to Clemence Dane who herself was a writer (and a playwright). It at least makes it more interesting than some letters where Tolkien literally just says "thanks for enjoying my work" and sold for a couple of thousand quid.
25 May, 2022
2022-5-25 10:54:19 AM UTC
Sold for £1700 and the Auctioneer stated that this was the most looked at item in the auction.
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