Curiosities

Polar Exploration Cards – John Player – First Series Complete – Issued 1916

A complete set of 25 cards of the sought after First Series of Polar Exploration cards issued by John Player & Sons. Good bright condition front and back.

Includes – Lieut. Sir E.H. Shackleton C.V.O.; The Northern Party at the South Magnetic Pole; The Aurora Borealis; The Aurora Australis; The British Antarctic Expedition 1910; Dr Fridjof Nansen; The “Nimrod” Picking up the Northern Party; A Remarkable Fumarole in the Old Crater of Mount Erebus etc

First series Complete and getting scarce

$90.00

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Original 19thC Watercolour – Australian Squadron, HMS Opal off the New Hebrides [Vanuatu] 1886 – D. F. Gillett

D.F. Gillett was an active British naïve marine artist in the late 19th early 20th Century. This painting is of an event in 1888, and we take that to be the year of the painting.

A nice size, 38cm by 22cm in frame 65cm by 88cm. the wooden frame of unusual and pleasing design. The painting in very good condition, strong colours no fading or foxing.

HMS Opal was an Emerald Class Corvette. Despite having steam power, she was fully rigged Barque. Built in Sunderland, England in 1875 she made her way to the Australian fleet and served between 1885-1890, mainly in the Pacific.

Price $890.00 framed as in image

A rare subject, HMS Opal in the Pacific off the New Hebrides [Vanuatu].

$890.00

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Stylish Deco Lady with Fawn and Borzoi – Designed by Peter Manfredi – Made by Pompeian Bronze, New York – 1920’s.

Simply the most stunning set of original bookends we have had. Exceedingly rare – not included in the key reference by Kuritsky and De Costa.

Based in Brooklyn New York the business registered thirty copyrights for bookends – the last in 1930. Peter Manfredi was their top designer.

Most bookends pairs are either identical or a reflection; rare as with this set to have a different subject for each. Clearly a pair because of the consistent and striking colouring and uniform patina. Original felt and label to one, replacement felt to the other. Very intricate designs hard to give them justice in the images. Some sings of age but overall in super condition circa 100 years old.

Large by usual standards – 23cmhigh – circa 25cm in length, hefty 2.7kg the pair. Dependent on location there will likely be a postage supplement as they pack big for safety.

Extremely Rare design by Peter Manfredi – 1920’s

$840.00

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The Ballad of Reading Gaol – Oscar Wilde [John Vassos Illustrated Edition First of Type - Special] – Published by Dutton New York 1930

Oscar Wilde was convicted of gross indecency in 1895 and spent two years in Reading jail in England. He was released in May 1897 and went into self exile in Berneval-le-Grand, France where he wrote this work the Ballad of Reading Gaol.

It was first published in 1898 and re-issued many times and still in print today. This edition is something special.

Published by Dutton, New York, 1930, a first of type. Quarto, 124 pages, with 16 striking monochrome plates by John Vassos (1898-1985). Vassos had designed promotional material for the Oscar Wild play “Salome” and had been spotted by Dutton who brought him in to add his special touch to the Ballad.

Black over blue papered boards, scarce dust jacket in black and gold. A very good copy.

Oscar Wilde – Ballad of Reading Gaol – Striking Presentation.

$290.00

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Botryoidal Goethite – Yaraka Queensland

The mineral Goethite or iron oxy-hydroxide here in a nice botryoidal (resembling grapes) crystal form.

Found in the Yaraka Boulder Opal Field 100km east of Blackhall, Queensland. Last count remote Yaraka had an official population of 20 – they all get along.

Small fist sized weighing 350 gm.

Good lustre to the botryoidal form

$35.00

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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
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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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Polar Exploration Cards – John Player – First Series Complete – Issued 1916

Original 19thC Watercolour – Australian Squadron, HMS Opal off the New Hebrides [Vanuatu] 1886 – D. F. Gillett

Stylish Deco Lady with Fawn and Borzoi – Designed by Peter Manfredi – Made by Pompeian Bronze, New York – 1920’s.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol – Oscar Wilde [John Vassos Illustrated Edition First of Type - Special] – Published by Dutton New York 1930

Botryoidal Goethite – Yaraka Queensland

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

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