AN IMPOSING piece of silver which once graced the home of one of Scotland’s most famous aristocratic families is being sold in Perth next week.

The Victorian soup tureen was made in London in 1845 for the Duke of Argyll, whose ancestral home is Inverary Castle.

Bearing the duke’s coat of arms and family motto, the piece is expected to attract worldwide interest when it is sold at Lindsay Burns & Company on Tuesday.

“It is a rare piece of silver, specifically because of its size, weight and the duke’s arms,” said auctioneer Lindsay Burns.

Weighing nearly 200 oz, the tureen is expected to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000. Being put up for auction by a central Scotland vendor, it has been in his family since the second world war.

The auctioneers have made contact with a US museum in case the tureen would be an appropriate addition to their collection.

The Duke of Argyll is head of the Clan Campbell and in 1996 the Campbell soup company gifted their collection of tureens to the Winterthur Museum.

A pair of silver candelabra by the same makers also included are also expected to sell for £15,000 to £20,000. The King Street auction house sale includes furniture, ceramics, glass and paintings—notably an oil painting by Edward Atkinson Hornel estimated £12,000 to £18,000.

The sale is on view Saturday, 9 am to noon, Sunday, 1 to 3 pm and Monday, 9 am to 5 pm.