MEDAL AWARDED TO RMS CARPATHIA CREW FOR RESCUE OF TITANIC SURVIVORS MAKES £6,000 AT BONHAMS

KENT PAINTER FRANCIS HOLMAN’S PICTURE OF CRUCIAL MARITIME BATTLE IN ST KITTS, 1782, FETCHES £57,600

 

One of the bronze medals presented to the crew of RMS Carpathia, following their heroic rescue of 705 survivors of the strickenTitanic on April 15 1912, sold for £6,000 today (28 September) at Bonhams, New Bond Street, as part of The Marine Sale. The medal, which had been estimated at £2,000 – 4,000, proved highly popular in a sale that realised over £555,000 in total.

 

Another lot fiercely in demand was a picture by eminent Ramsgate-born maritime painter Francis Holman (1729-1784) of the action between the fleets of Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and the French Comte de Grasse in Frigate Bay, St Kitts on 26 January 1782, which eventually sold for £57,600.

 

The painting shows the British, under the command of Admiral Hood, defending the valuable British West Indian ‘sugar’ island St Kitts against occupation by the French during the American War of Independence. After two days of fighting and ‘masterly’ manoeuvres by the British, the leader of the French fleet, de Comte, retired. Three weeks later, however, St Kitts fell into French hands.
Top prices were also paid for Montague Dawson’s Idle Sails (estimate £30,000 – 50,000), which sold for £57,600; and two paintings by Timothy Thompson of dramatic moments in the America’s Cup, America and Her Rivals on the Start Line andAmerica crossing the Finish Line, which both made £18,000.

Other highlights included a hand-drawn invasion landing plan for the British forces at the beginning of the Crimean war, which sold for £696 and a massive English scrimshaw whale’s tooth, part of one of the largest scrimshaw collections to come to the market in recent years, which sold for £8,400.

Bonhams

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Australia, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com