Saleroom BONHAMS £1,000 for a callipygous coconut BY DAVE SELBY
That voluptuous bean known as the ‘coco de mer’ has enthralled seafarers and mystified naturalists for centuries. Many early ocean-crossing mariners believed the ‘sea coconut’, as it is sometimes called, to be the fruit of a tree that grew on the deep sea bed. Botanists and species gatherers thought the nut might be a sea-bean or drift-seed, designed to be dispersed by the sea – yet it was later discovered that only rotten nuts float. Love-lorn sailors, though, simply appreciated the curvaceous form, from which it later acquired the botanical name Lodoicea callipyge, callipyge meaning ‘beautiful rump’. It was only in 1768 that the source of the nut, which usually
aristocrats who encrusted their cocos de mer with precious jewels and displayed them in ‘cabinets of curiosities’. Today they are more
measures about a foot (30cm) wide, was found to be a palm that existed only on two islands, Praslin and Curieuse in the Seychelles. Yet these wonders of nature remain an object of fascination. In the 16th century they were prized by European
Cocos de mer commanded high prices at Bonhams’ Gentleman’s Library Sale
appreciated in their natural form, polished or smoothed over time. Several of these lubricious natural sculptures crossed the rostrum recently in Bonhams’ annual London Gentleman’s Library Sale. The most coveted coco de mer, commanding £1,000, was a nutty brown one of natural appearance. In today’s market cocos de mer as nature made them are generally the most valued, while those that have been turned into ‘useful’ objects are usually worth less – a nut fashioned into a container with a hinged lid sold for just £850, while others turned into bowls failed to sell, having lost the pleasure of their form.
BONHAMS SALE RESULTS
The 750 lots in the 18 January ‘Gentleman’s Library’ auction offered plenty of marine interest. The tiller from Arthur Ransome’s Nancy Blackett (see CB 283) sold for £1,000 to the UK trade; a magnificent 69cm-high silver model of the 1934 Fife 12-Metre Miquette, probably made for first owner RS Grigg, fetched £11,250; and a George IV campaign desk, built for a naval captain’s cabin, made £2,500. One of the most unusual artefacts
was the clutch control wheel of S-class submarine HMS Seraph, which carried out Operation Mincemeat, an extraordinary and gruesome piece of war-time espionage involving a corpse carrying fake invasion plans being fired from the torpedo tube. As planned, the body – a Welsh vagrant dressed as a naval captain – was discovered by German forces, who fell for the ruse and diverted troops away from Sicily. This bizarre episode was later made into a film, The Man Who Never Was. A bargain at £1,500.
NANCY BLACKETT TILLER
£1,000
SUBMARINE CLUTCH WHEEL
£1,500
UPCOMING AUCTIONS...
BONHAMS MARINE SALE
Bonhams’ next nautical date in London is the more conventional annual Marine Sale, in New Bond Street, on 3 April. This sale typically features
CAPTAIN’S DESK £2,500 SILVER MODEL 12-METRE £11,250
around 200 lots of marine paintings, models and collectibles.
CLASSIC BOAT MARCH 2012 29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100