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  • Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure – Dish decorated in Lotus, Lingzhi and Peach – 1822

    Tek Sing Shipwreck Treasure – Dish decorated in Lotus, Lingzhi and Peach – 1822

    Qing Dynasty decorated dish recovered by Mike Hatcher from the Tek Sing shipwreck of 1822. Nice condition.

    Beautifully decorated with bands of lotus flower around a central spiral and set in alternate designs of lingzhi fungus and fruiting peach. Similar decorations to external rim, potters mark at bottom. Bright and clean. 15cm in diameter 6cm high, weighs 220gm. Retains Nagel auction sticker.

    Price $240.00

    Bright well decorated treasure from the Tek Sing
    ________________________

    The Tek Sing Shipwreck – Background

    The Tek Sing (Chinese for “Bright Star”’) was a large Chinese Junk which sank in 1822 in the South China Sea at the Belvidere Shoals. She was 50 meters long, 10 metres wide and weighed a thousand tons. Manned by a crew of 200. The great loss of life has led to the Tek Sing being referred to as the “Titanic of the East”.

    Sailing from the port of Amoy (now Xiamen), the Tek Sing was bound for Jakarta, with a cargo of porcelain goods and 1,600 Chinese immigrants. After a month of sailing, Captain Lo Tauko took a shortcut through the Gaspar Straits and ran aground on a reef and sank in 100 feet of water.

    The next morning and English East Indiaman captained by James Pearl sailing from Indonesia to Borneo passed through the Gaspar Straits. He found debris from the sunken Chinese vessel and survivors. They managed to rescue 190 people.

    In 1999, marine salvor Mike Hatcher discovered the wreck. His crew raised what has been described as the largest cache of Chinese porcelain ever recovered. It was auctioned by Nagle in Stuttgart, Germany the following year

    $240.00

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  • Daphnis et Chloe By Longus with aquarelles by G. P. Jornard – Surely the world’s prettiest book

    Daphnis et Chloe By Longus with aquarelles by G. P. Jornard – Surely the world’s prettiest book

    Published on the Champs-Elysees, Paris in the 1920’s by Editions Nilsson.

    This superb book contains six mounted watercolours (aquarelles) that match the quality of the watercolour adorning this beautiful onion skin paper front cover.

    Small quarto, 154 pages. This book often found as effectively a soft cover – this copy hard bound, pretty basic half red cloth over brown papered boards, top edge gilt. Whilst we say basic it’s done a good job in protecting the aquarelles … the odd bit of spotting in the text. Overall, a very worthwhile copy.

    A Greek pastoral novel written by Longus during the second century AD. Based on the island of Lesbos a young couple having been brought up adopted by a goat herder and a shepherd respectively having been abandoned at birth eventually find love. It was a difficult road but it ends well.

    The artist was Germaine Paule Jounard, she was a highly respected artist of the period and completed many illustrations particularly for the frencg fashion industry at the time.

    What better romantic gift than this

    French 1920’s with beauty and style

    $190.00

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  • Queensland Royal Geographical Society Journal – Diamond Jubilee Issue 1885-1945. Interesting Papua New Guinea content – Including the Kokoda Trail

    Queensland Royal Geographical Society Journal – Diamond Jubilee Issue 1885-1945. Interesting Papua New Guinea content – Including the Kokoda Trail

    The journal as published by the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland). Octavo, soft wrappers, 113 pages after preliminaries, folding chart, images from period photographs, sketch map of Papua New Guinea etc. A very good copy bar innocent marks to the covers … pretty clean and bright inside.

    After various historic introductions articles re “Queensland Pastures – Their Development and Improvement; Across Papua’s Mighty Delta by A.L. Ethell; Irrigation (Queensland); The Interior of Eastern Papua by Captain Vernon – which describes the immediately post war Kokoda with interesting observations

    Nicely illustrated and with a fold out sketch map from Bootless Bay (near Port Moresby) to Buna showing a vertical cross section of the Kokoda track.

    A special issue of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland) Journal with particular interest to New Guinea collectors and readers.

    $60.00

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  • The Thinker Bookends by Armor Bronze New York – 1920’s

    The Thinker Bookends by Armor Bronze New York – 1920’s

    A solid and delightful pair of bookends by Armor Bronze who had a showroom on Fourth and then Fifth Avenue, New York during the 1920’s.

    The company’s origins are not clear with some sources saying 1890’s – for sure they existed in 1910 as the National Metalizing Company changing their name to Armor Bronze circa 1920.

    Collectors and Bibliophiles bookends based on “Le Penseur” by Rodin. Some age as expected, still in good to better condition. Stand 20cm high and weighing in at a hefty, book securing 3.0 kg the pair.

    Heavy items may require a postage supplement if Overseas …

    Period Thinker Bookends – Don’t think too long

    $360.00

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  • French Miniature Furnace Microscope – c1850-60

    French Miniature Furnace Microscope – c1850-60

    Scarce miniature Mineral or Furnace Microscope attributed to Bertrand, Paris in the Billings Collection pages 37 and 193. The Billings example no 369 on page 193 is identical even down to the circle made on the outer case from running the closing catch around.

    Beautifully made, the original mahogany box has a conical dove tail slide cut into its top into which the instrument sits. The brass base screws to the tune stand. There is a square cut in the front that houses a single mirror on a milled head pivot. The stand is cut away for the fixed circular stage. At the top of the stand there is a screw in cylinder into which the body tube slides. There is an outer casing which slides downward to become a slide holder. The objective and ocular screw in.

    This is a collector’s item – it is probably one of the smallest practical microscopes ever made, is extremely well made and in as perfect a condition one could expect for its age. The case is undamaged with a great patina.

    Case dimensions approximately 85mm x 45mm x 35mm. Microscope height 75mm base diameter 25mm.

    Perfect collectable miniature microscope – over 150 years old.
    .

    $260.00

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  • Summer Storm – Frank Swinnerton – First Edition 1926

    Summer Storm – Frank Swinnerton – First Edition 1926

    1926 First US Edition in very good condition. Published by George Doran, New York. Octavo, 341 pages, complete decorative dust jacket.

    Frank Swinnerton (1884-1882) nearly made the century and was a prolific writer with over 50 novels. He was a contemporary of Wells, Bennett et al. His first real job was as a receptionist at Dent publishers, London .. and it all went from there. Later he supplemented his income with editorial work and worked with/on Aldous Huxley.

    Summer Storm is a swift dramatic story about two young women in the summertime of their lives. A story about growing up. Swinnerton detested false overblown language which makes this book all the more readable and maybe unlike its period.

    1926 First Edition in gift worthy condition

    $60.00

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