Western Morning News (Saturday)
Top price for medal for midshipman
The rare Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, with two clasps for Trafalgar and St Sebastian, sold for £16,500 from an estimate of £3,000 to £5,000 at the recent sale.
The medal was awarded to Plymouth man Edward Knapman. As a midshipman, he served on board HMS Spatiate under Sir Francis Laforey at the Battle of Trafalgar when he was wounded in the leg and arm and subsequently received a gratuity from the Patriotic Fund.
Having been promoted to Lieutenant he was, in his later years in the Royal Navy, largely stationed on Plymouth ships until 1841 when he joined the Coastguard.
Other star lots included a mid-20th century ‘Egg Chair’ designed by Arne Jacobsen which, even needing some attention, was keenly fought over and sold for £1,450.
From a similar period, a Herman Miller Time Life chair designed by Charles & Ray Eames generated a huge amount of interest and smashed its pre-sale estimate, selling for £1,000.
A pair of small late-18th century oil on oak panel copy paintings of famous Henry VIII and Elizabeth I portraits also generated considerable pre-sale interest. A battle to buy them between a bidder in the saleroom and another on the telephone raised the hammer price to an impressive £8,000. An oil painting of a Cape Buffalo by German wildlife artist Friedrich Wilhelm Kuhnert doubled its estimate to sell for £7,400.
Eldreds next sale will be a Christmas sale of silver, gold, jewellery and watches is on Tuesday, December 4 at 10.30am. Eldreds, Plymouth; tel: 01752 721199 eldreds.net