The watch which sailed with Charles Darwin »
An Historically Important Pocket Chronometer Present on the Second Voyage of HMS Beagle Accompanied Charles Darwin around the world from 1831 to 1836 and ashore to the Galapagos Islands. The most significant of the chronometers surviving from the voyage. An early 19th Century English chronometer by Parkinson & Frodsham. Full plate gilt keywind fusee movement, […]
. View Post » Queen Caroline’s Coffin Plate »
‛They have destroyed me, but I forgive them’ The extraordinary story of the coffin plate of Caroline of Brunswick, Queen of England Early on the morning of 14 August 1821 a mournful procession of carriages, one carrying a crown, and headed by a troop of cavalry passed through a throng of people at the gates […]
. View Post » The Aston Deathes Hedde »
The Aston Deathes Hedde England, 1635 Long lost Memento Mori Jewel from the celebrated 1635 masterpiece painting Sir Thomas Aston at the Deathbed of his Wife to be offered for sale at The Treasure House Fair this June The jewel worn by Sir Thomas Aston in the painting was never thought to have survived ‛Hamnet’ […]
. View Post » The Lost Union Flag of H.M.S. Royal Sovereign at The Battle of Trafalgar »
A RARE AND FINELY PRESERVED UNION FLAG FLOWN FROM THE FORESTAY OF VICE ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD’S FLAG SHIP ROYAL SOVEREIGN FLOWN BY ORDER OF ADMIRAL VISCOUNT NELSON AT THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, 21ST OCTOBER, 1805 Hand-stitched wool bunting with weighted edge, battle worn with evidence of powder stains and splinter tears (later 19th century sleeve […]
. View Post » Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (1769-1830): PORTRAIT OF ADMIRAL SIR EDWARD CODRINGTON, GCB (1770-1851) »
Three-quarter length, wearing uniform and the Star and Sash of the Order of the Bath as well as the Naval General Service medal, the Russian Order of Saint George, the French Grand Cross of Saint Louis and other decorations Oil on canvas 76.2 by 63.5 cm., 30 by 25in. Provenance: By descent in the family […]
. View Post » A Curious Model of the Britannia, a Ship of 100 guns »
The Admiralty ‘Pull-Apart’ model for the First Rate Ship of the Line Britannia, scale 1:48. Workshop of John Hayward, Master Shipwright at Woolwich Dockyard, circa 1715. A contemporary dockyard model fully decked, equipped, and made to separate at the gun deck, revealing the deck beams. Mounted on a later baseboard with plaque inscribed: ‘The Worshipful […]
. View Post » Captain Kellett’s Polar Sledge Flag »
In 2023, in association with Maggs Bros., and on behalf of the Kellett family, I handled the sale of the sledge flag used by Captain Henry Kellett during the 1852-4 arctic search to discover the fate of Sir John Franklin’s expedition to the North West Passage. White silk flag with applique embroidered crest and […]
. View Post » Captain Hardy’s Trafalgar Watch »
In 2024, almost twenty years after I handled the sale of the gold pocket watch worn by Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar (see Nelson’s Watch), I sold the watch carried on that same fateful day by Nelson’s faithful flag captain and friend Thomas Masterman Hardy. Captain Hardy’s Trafalgar Watch THE GOLD WATCH […]
. View Post » Historic Model of HMS Victory »
On 5 July 2022, Sotheby’s London sold an extraordinary early model of HMS Victory which had been on loan at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich since 1962. Familiar to scholars, the model is the only known contemporary model of Victory in her Trafalgar state and it offers an invaluable and important material record to the […]
. View Post » The Nelson Map, Norfolk »
In 2022, I created The Nelson Map for the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Admiral Lord Nelson’s birthplace village of Burnham Thorpe in North Norfolk. Based on a survey of Norfolk published in 1797, the map highlights places of especial interest to Nelson’s early life including his school in Norwich and the houses […]
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