Admiral Lord Nelson’s “Horatia” Service »
CHAMBERLAIN’S WORCESTER WATER PLATE FROM ADMIRAL LORD NELSON’S CELEBRATED “HORATIA” SERVICE Ordered at the factory by Admiral Lord Nelson in August 1802 The circular dish with double skin and hollow handles for filling with hot water, richly-painted in the Chamberlain’s ‘Fine Old Japan’ pattern, number 240, the Imari style floral decoration including pairs of green […]
. View Post » Bonnie Prince Charles’s Silver Cup »
This two handled silver cup was made by London silversmith Paul Crespin in 1743. It was presented to Prince Charles Edward Stuart by a Jacobite sympathiser and engraved with his cypher as the Jacobite Prince of Wales. Following the Battle of Culloden and the collapse of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, the cup was given to […]
. View Post » Wellington’s Commanding Engineer in the Peninsula Wars »
A large George III oval silver salver, plain with double beaded border standing on four bracket feet, centre engraved with the family crest of Jones for General Sir John Thomas Jones (1783-1843). By John Scofield, London 1780. Dimensions approx: 18 x 14 inches / 4575 x 1015 mm £4950 This silver tray belonged to Sir […]
. View Post » SAMUEL PEPYS: A HIGHLY IMPORTANT CHARLES II SILVER ‘TRENCHER PLATE’ »
Plain circular with a wide reeded border engraved with a contemporary coat of arms of Pepys quartering Talbot for Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), within a shield between tied plumes and foliate mantling. Maker’s mark MK with a mullet above and below in lozenge shaped shield (see Jackson, 137), London 1681-2. Diameter: 10 3/4 inches; weight: 17oz. […]
. View Post » Nelson: a re-discovered hand-drawn plan of the Battle of Trafalgar »
I found this pencil sketch battle plan by Admiral Viscount Nelson pasted in a 19th century scrapbook. It is dated 5 September 1805, three days after Nelson was told that the combined enemy fleet had entered Cadiz which it would have to leave soon and face an engagement. The sketch, probably hastily drawn to illustrate […]
. View Post » The Tobacco Lord’s Silver Cup »
THE FINDLAY CUP: A LARGE GEORGE III SILVER TWO HANDLED CUP AND COVER MARK OF PETER, ANN & WILLIAM BATEMAN, LONDON 1802 vase-shaped on acanthus leaf and bead-edge pedestal foot, the body applied with bellflower, oak leaf and bow festoons with obverse a military trophy and reverse a presentation inscription dated 1802, below an applied foliate […]
. View Post » Flag fragment and ticket from Nelson’s funeral »
LAURENCE HALLORAN (1765-1831), CHAPLAIN OF HMS BRITANNIA AT THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR The Battle of Trafalgar: a poem [London, 1806] Author’s copy. First edition, 8vo, half cloth, marbled boards; With supplementary additions of a ticket to Lord Nelson’s funeral, an ALS to the author from Admiral Sir Robert Calder (1745-1818) and a fragment of the Union flag flown […]
. View Post » The Stowe Basket »
A GEORGE III SILVER CAKE BASKET BY EDWARD ALDRIDGE, LONDON, 1762 Shaped oval with gadroon borders, ribbed swing handle, fretwork sides and foot, centre later engraved with arms accollé, base inscribed with scratch-weight 34=4 14 ¼ in. long (36.3 cm.); 31.5 oz. (976 gm.) The arms are for Richard Plantaganet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and […]
. View Post » Lost portrait of Lady Nelson »
I recently discovered this vivid and revealing portrait of Frances, Dowager Viscountess Nelson (1761-1831), the widow of Admiral Lord Nelson. This is the first portrait of Lady Nelson to be identified for over a century and one of only four portraits of her to survive. It offers an affecting image of Frances in the last […]
. View Post » The Inferno Silver Chamber Candlestick by Castellani, Rome, circa 1865 »
Designed as three demons kneeling round a bed of flames on which another demon sits, its arms curved to support a candle and its tail looped as a handle. The three smaller demons serve as the feet of the chamber candlestick and seem to pay homage, each in its own way, to the seated devil […]
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