A DRESS belonging to an eighteenth-century Scottish noblewoman and a cannonball recovered from the battlefield of Culloden have been sold at auction.
A cannonball, which was discovered from the Culloden battlefield and was engraved with the words “Ogilvy Culloden 16 April 1746”, had been expected to sell for between £3000 and £5000.
However, the historic piece of artillery went for around six times more than its expected asking price, as it sold for £18,900.
Along with the cannonball, a gown worn at the Palace of Holyroodhouse by an eighteenth-century Scottish noblewoman who was a close ally to the Jacobites also sold for almost double its estimated price on Wednesday.
The brocaded dress, originally estimated to fetch between £8000 to £12,000, was worn by Lady Margaret Ogilvy, wife of David Ogilvy, 6th Earl of Airlie, when they attended a ball hosted by Prince Charles Edward Stuart, more commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in 1745.
Lady Margaret's gown has been on long-term loan to the Royal Collection at the Palace of Holyrood for the last 100 years, but was sold at auction for £20,160.
The dress was just one of more than 80 lots of Property from the Earls of Airlie, belonging to the Ogilvy family, which went under the hammer at Lyon and Turnbull's two-day-long Scotland Collected sale.
As a group, the Airlie heirlooms that were up for auction at Scotland Collected sold for more than £250,000.
A pair of French silver Campaign Beakers carried by Colonel David, Lord Ogilvy, throughout the Jacobite campaigns of 1745 were also sold for £17,640.
Lyon and Turnbull's John Mackie, who is head of sale for Scotland Collected, said: “It was an honour to handle these items which have a direct link to such an important part of Scotland's history.
“These pieces which sold today stood out in terms of both provenance and condition and so it was no surprise that was such a great deal of interest leading up to the sale.
“The Airlie Collection featured objects with a link to well-known Scottish figures which heightened the appeal to buyers at home and abroad.”
