Investiture Souvenir Chairs, by Mr. John Pound

John Pound, Investiture Souvenir Chairs, 1969, with seats of gilt-embossed, ash-veneered plywood and frames of beech, original Welsh tweed cushions, formerly in Malcolm Forbes’ collection, being sold 11 Nov. 2026 by Bliss on Fifth LLC at Stair Galleries Anthony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon, is usually credited with designing the souvenir chair for the 1969 investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales because he is the most famous, and because he was married to Princess Margaret. Carl Toms, a set and costume designer who used to be the assistant of Armstrong-Jones’s theater designer uncle Oliver Messel, was also involved, which I think means he focused on set design. But there’s an April 1969 picture of a proud Public Works designer John Pound posing with the chair on the bleachers of Caernarvon Castle, and the caption calls him the “designer of the chair.” As for the design of his own outfit for the ceremony, a dark green cross between a Nehru jacket and a morning suit, I have no…