Lots of provenance

More than 150 years of British yachting history – much of it with royal associations – is coming on to the market on 1 November as Portsmouth’s combined Royal Naval Club and the Royal Albert Yacht Club closes its doors for good.

Approximately 100 lots, o¤ered on behalf of the administrators, trace a path through the pantheon of yachting from 1864, including: silver trophies named in memory of Charles Nicholson; mementos from GL Watson’s 1892 Britannia, which was so beloved by King George V that on his death in 1936 the famed racing cutter was stripped and sacrificed to the sea o¤ the Isle of Wight; photographs, books and historical archive material.

For collectors and historians it’s a rare opportunity. For those lacking in history it’s an opportunity to line a library or den with all the ephemera you need to suggest that your family has pedigree and once achieved something.

Perfect provenance: (above) A racing flag from George V’s Britannia comes with a letter from Buckingham Palace stating “I am commanded by The King and Queen Mary to send you these flags” Top left: a Beken of Cowes photograph of Charles Nicholson at the helm of Candida Bottom left: a circa 1910 yachtsman’s pocket dispute set adds a touch of decorum in di…erences of opinion about who rammed whom