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 […]
. View Post » Captain Thomas Dundas’ Trafalgar Silver Cup »
A large silver cup, plain with tapering half-fluting and reeded edge standing on circular foot, engraved with a coat of arms within an oak wreath and robe mantling; by Solomon Hougham, London 1802. Height: 205mm / 8 inches Weighs 524 grams / 16 tr oz 16dwt Arms: Argent a lion rampant gules a bordure […]
. View Post » Portrait miniature of Lieutenant Daniel Pring RN (c1788-1846) »
Oval portrait miniature of Lieutenant Daniel Pring RN (c.1788-1846), attributed to Thomas Richmond (1771-1837) English school, circa 1810 Watercolour on ivory; mounted in gold as a pendent, reverse with plaited hair applied with gold monograms “DP” and “AP”. Dimensions: Oval, 65mm x 55mm / 2 1/2 x 2 1/8 inches (ex. loop) Provenance: Lot 695, […]
. View Post » Portrait miniature of Captain Richard Bourne RN, founder of P&O »
Rare double-sided portrait miniature of: obverse, Captain Richard Bourne RN (1770-1851), founder of the Peninsular and Orient Steamship Company (P&O); reverse, his wife, Louisa Helena Bourne, née Blake (1797-1865) Irish school circa 1840; watercolour on ivory, oval 78 mm / 3 inches high, mounted in a plain gold frame with pendent loop Provenance: Louisa Blake Mahon, […]
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