Wilson Chilton’s mahogany Naval Architects/draughtsman box of curves/templates

This ‘en grisaille’ watercolour on paper is Charles Dixon’s preparatory sketch for a proposed but apparently uncompleted painting of the royal racing yacht Britannia...

This fine box is one of a small number of souvenir pieces of this kind made from timbers salvaged during the refurbishment of Windsor Castle in the 1820s. What makes this piece parti...

A relic from the family of Bounty Mutineer John Adams: An exceptionally rare documented piece of Bark Cloth from the Pitcairn Islands, with a fragment of paper pinned to it stating ‘Manufactured at Pitcairn’s Island, by the descendants of John Adams the Mutineer, from the bark of a tree.’ Provenance: Private collection, Hampshire For similar examples see the collection of the British Museum (Oc1937,0308.1 and Oc1937,0308.2) each with the same handwriting as the example offered here, but signed ‘H. Porter’ and dated 1837 and another in the National Martime Museum, Greenwich. John Adams (1767-1829) John Adams (known as Alexander Smith) was the last survivor of the Bounty Mutineers, the disaffected crewmen, who, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set him and eighteen loyalists adrift in the ship’s open launch. After a sojourn in Tahiti, Christian, the remaining mutineers and some native Tahitians, mainly women forcibly abducted, left on 22nd September 1799 in search of safe haven. He then formed the idea of settling on Pitcairn Island, far to the east of Tahiti; the island had been reported in 1767, but its exact location was never verified. After months of searching, Christian rediscovered the island on 15 January 1790, 188 nautical miles east of its recorded position. This longitudinal error contributed to the mutineers’ decision to settle on Pitcairn in the hope they would be undetected. On arrival the Bounty was unloaded and stripped of most of its masts and spars, for use on the island. It was set ablaze and destroyed on 23rd January 1790. Although the settlers were able to survive by farming and fishing, the initial period of settlement was marked by serious tensions among the settlers. Alcoholism, murder, disease and other ills had taken the lives of most of the mutineers and Tahitian men. John Adams, Ned Young, and Matthew Quintal were the last three mutineers surviving in 1799 when the thuggish Quintal, while drunk, reportedly threatened to kill the entire community if he could not have Fletcher Christian’s widow as his own consort, and in response Adams and Young lured him to Young’s house and killed him with a hatchet. Having taken effective control of the 19-member strong colony after the 1793 massacre, Adams and Young then turned to the Scriptures using the ship’s Bible as their guide for a new and peaceful society. As a result, Adams and Young embraced Christianity and taught the children to read and write using the Bible. Young eventually died of an asthmatic infection in 1800, but Adams continued his work of educating the women and children. The Pitcairners also converted to Christianity. The Pitcairners would later convert from their existing form of Christianity to Adventism after a successful Adventist mission in the 1890s. The American sailing ship Topaz was the first to rediscover Pitcairn in 1808. Adams was eventually granted amnesty for the mutiny...

A mahogany strong box made for the Ovenden Female Society, Instituted May 1809, of deep rectangular form with a hinged lid, three brass locks, brass carrying handles and an applied b...

Rectangular 19th century box with an oval brass plaque without engraving. The exterior has been re-polished over time. It has a nice warm patina. The int...

This lovely three-piece 19th century writing set consists of a pen with silver tip, letter opener of mother of pearl with agate handle and silver connector and a detailed intaglio en...

Antique Victorian quality mahogany stationary box having a sloping front and a pair of mahogany doors opening to reveal a fitted interior, set ...

Antique English Victorian Coromandel wood fitted traveler's box Compendium, Circa 1850-1860. Made by J.T. Needs, Late Bramah: Purveyor to Her Majesty, Prince Albert & the Royal Family.