Saleroom CHARLES MILLER LTD PoW attic find makes £27,600 BY DAVE SELBY
A Napoleonic prisoner-of-war ship model recently discovered in the attic of a country house in rural Ireland has sold at auction for £27,600, despite needing restoration work. The bone and baleen model of a 100-gun first-rater, expertly crafted by a French prisoner with fine details including opening gun ports with retracting guns, had only been expected to make £10,000-12,000. On the day it was the surprise top seller in Charles Miller Ltd’s £264,000-grossing latest maritime auction in London. The 24in (61cm) model is believed to have lain undisturbed for over 100 years. It is thought to have belonged to a mid-19th-century naval officer and was discovered by a descendant who recently inherited the house in County Cork. Despite some damage – most apparent in the running rigging – the
BOND AT BONHAMS Ian Fleming’s £13,750 naval jacket
Commander James Bond’s rank derives from that of his creator, Ian Fleming, who served as a commander in the Naval Intelligence Division in World War Two. Fleming, one of the very few given access to ‘Ultra Intelligence’, accompanied allied troops as an observer on the Dieppe Raid of 1942, and when the naval jacket worn by him on that raid came up for auction it created a bidding frenzy among 007 collectors, selling for an eye- popping £13,750 at the Bonhams sale of books, manuscripts and literary artefacts in November. A first edition of Casino Royale also made £13,750.
UPCOMING AUCTIONS... BONHAMS
Silver 12-Metre
Bonhams’ Gentleman’s Library Sale on 18 January in London includes all manner of fascinating collectibles, with plenty of maritime interest including this silver model of the 1934 12-Metre Miquette, estimated at £10,000-12,000. Two days later in
Ian Fleming wore this jacket on the 1942 Dieppe Raid
New York on 20 January the 2012 season gets going with Bonhams annual auction of Important Maritime Paintings & Decorative Arts (www. bonhams. com)
model is well preserved thanks to the dark, cool conditions of the attic; it remains fundamentally sound and highly original. Bone models can be bleached by light and hulls warped or planking popped by central heating.
Bone and baleen -– well preserved
The American dealer who bought it clearly judged that even with the estimated £5,000-£8,000-worth of restoration and conservation work required the finished object would still provide a return.
CLASSIC BOAT FEBRUARY 2012
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