Anteros

Hello peeps! Hope you're all well? I won't bore you with the tedious work crap that's been taking up all my time of late, instead have a look at this rather fabulous yooniform that I had to restrain myself from buying when it came up for auction in Glasgow this weekend.


The catalogue entry describes it as follows:

A Victorian mess uniform, John Dick Peddie MP with jacket and trousers with gold braid and buttons, including gilt mounted engraved blade dress sword marked LD Phillips & Co., George St. Hanover Square London. Property from a Stirlingshire Country House. Estimate: 200-400.

I could be wrong, but I think the John Dick Peddie it belonged to is actually more famous for being an architect rather than an MP, in which case I'm surprised it wasn't valued more highly. I know it's a bit later than the period I'm interested in but I still reckon it would have made a fabulous addition to my wardrobe, doncha think? :)

( More pictures under the cut )

I came across this rather fabulous item in a recent auction catalogue from Charles Miller Maritime Auctioneers. The catalogue entry reads as follows:

An exceptionally fine and large Narwhal (Monodon Monoceros) Tusk presented to Cornelius Fudge, 1881

of typical barley-twist form, polished overall and of mellow butterscotch hue -- 98¾in. (251cm.) high, mounted on a later recessed slate base through felt-lined lignum vitæ spool bearing Government marks and with silvered plaque engraved PRESENTED TO CONRELIUS FUDGE, MASTER AT ARMS / BY HIS MESSMATES, AS A MARK OF RESPECT & ESTEEM / ON HIS LEAVING H.M.S. "LONDON" AT ZANZIBAR / TO RETIRE FROM THE SERVICE. SEPTEMBER, 1881, overall height including base 101¾in. (258.5cm.)

This Officer joined the Marines in 1873 and served mainly aboard the Duke of Wellington with shorter stretches aboard Sultan and Thunderer. He joined the London on 1st September 1880 and left almost exactly a year later on 7th September 1881 to serve one last year aboard the Duke of Wellington before retiring on 13th January 1882. In modern times his name has become more famously associated with the Harry Potter stories in which the Minister for Magic has the same name - although probably a coincidence, it is pleasing to note that in former times narwhal tusks were believed to retain magical powers associated with unicorns.

Fudge's narwhal tusk had an estimated value of £15,000 - £20,000, but it sold for £36,000! No doubt the Minister for Magic would have been delighted!

Charles Miller's spring auction is coming up next Wednesday and, as usual, there are some real gems including this...


This is a page from a sketch book kept by Pownoll Fleetwood Pellew while he was a cadet at the Naval College at Portsmouth, in 1836. Pownoll Fleetwood Pellew was the third son of Pownoll Pellew by his second wife, Georgina Janet Dick, and the grandson of your favourite admiral and mine, Sir Edward Pellew.

There are some more pictures from Pownoll's sketch book below the cut along with some other highly covetable lots.

( Charles Miller Auction )

Last week Bonhams auctioned a painting of the iconic engagement between the Indefatigable, Amazon and Droits de L'Homme by marine painter John Lynn. I had never come across Lynn, who the catalogue describes as...

"...a painter of shipping and coastal scenes. He exhibited at the British Institution from 1828 to– 1838 and he also exhibited at the Suffolk Street Gallery. His output was small, but his works are always of exceptional quality."

The painting sold for £10,000 and it's certainly one of the more accurate and realistic representations of the engagement that I've seen. Lynn clearly shows the damage to the French ship's fore and main topmasts and the sea washing over her lower gun ports. I'm guessing from the position of the three ships, and the moon breaking through the clouds, that this scene is from the end of the engagement, but I wouldn't like to say which ship is the Amazon and which is the Bloody Indy :}

The broadband repair chap has done his job admirably and I am back afloat online :) So this seems like an appropriate point to share this gorgeous picture of the Bloody Indy which my clever partner found towards the end of last year.



This beautiful watercolour, HMS Indefatigable joining other ships of the squadron offshore, is the work of JT Serres who served as Admiralty artist with the Channel Fleet between 1799 and 1800. During this period Serres spent some time aboard the Indefatigable, though sadly after Pellew had been ordered to leave his beloved frigate, and "promoted" to the ship of the line Impetueux. Serres' name may be familiar as he has made several appearances in fic written by both nodbear and I.

Although Serres' oil paintings regularly sell for upwards of £30,000, this little watercolour, which measures just 6 x 9 inches, went for only £2,040 when it sold at auction by Christie's of London in 2005. I can't tell you how much I wish I had known about this at the time :}

Charles Miller's autumn auction is coming up on the 26th October and one of the highlights is this painting of The Wreck of the East Indiaman Dutton at Plymouth Sound, 26 January 1796 by Thomas Luny. Luny was a prolific English maritime painter born in Cornwall in 1759. He worked in London and France and in 1807 he took up residence in Teignmouth in Devon where he was a neighbour of Sir Edward Pellew, Admiral Lord Exmouth. Towards the end of his life, Pellew commissioned Luny to paint several of his celebrated naval actions including the Droits de L'Homme engagement and the wreck of the Dutton.

The Dutton was carrying troops bound for the East Indies when she dragged her anchors in a storm off Plymouth Sound and was driven ashore below the Citadel. Miller's catalogue entry goes on to say:

Pellew then stationed at Plymouth was driving to dinner when he passed the catastrophe unfolding below. Springing from his carriage he promptly boarded the stricken vessel when all her officers had deserted her. By his presence and authority and the skilful use of a rope stretched betwixt ship and shore Pellew and a group of unnamed boatmen saved the lives of everyone aboard a feat which earned him not only his baronetcy but also a degree of national fame.

Not quite.... One of the "unnamed boatmen" was Jeremiah Coghlan, mate of the Dutton, who showed such bravery that night that Pellew offerred him a position as midshipman on the Indefatigable. Coghlan went on to have a distinguished naval career and rose to the rank of captain. Other officers who assisted in the rescue were Pellowe and Thomson of the Indefatigable, Edsell, signal midshipman of the port Admiral and Hemmings, master attendant of the dockyard.

The painting is estimated to fetch £8000 - £10,000 which is actually pretty reasonable for a Luny. The catalogue entry is a little ambiguous as to it's provenance which possibly accounts for a lower price than might be expected.

The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich has a slighter larger version of this picture catalogue number BHC 3298 which depicts more of the citadel on the left side and has a cutter passing off Dutton s bows and is signed and dated 1821. An old typed note pinned to the back of this example states it is signed for 1835.

You can read the rest of the catalogue entry here.

nodbear and I are both big fans of Mr Luny so I think we may have to lock away our bank cards when she comes up to visit next week ;)