Sunken treasure chest: 1941 ship torpedoed by U-boat is discovered…
...on sea bed with £155m of silver still onboard
The wreckage of a British cargo ship believed to be carrying up to 240 tons of silver has been discovered in the North Atlantic – 70 years after it was sunk during the Second World War.
SS Gairsoppa was steaming home from India in 1941 while in the service of the Ministry of War Transport when she was torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat.
She sank in icy seas more than three miles deep about 300 miles south west of Ireland. Only one of her 84 crew survived.
Eerie: A ladder leads down to the cargo hold on the SS Gairsoppa as it lies on the sea bed 300 miles south of Galway
Well preserved: A brass part of the Gairsoppa is in good condition, suggesting that the cargo is also undamaged by its time beneath the waves
Raised from the depths: A sonar image of the SS Gairsoppa on the bottom of the sea
U.S. salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration announced the find, about 4,700 metres, or three miles, below the sea, yesterday.
In what is believed to be the deepest and largest ever retrieval of a precious cargo, the firm will next spring dive to recover a haul estimated to be worth £155million.
Under its contract with the Department for Transport, Odyssey will keep 80 per cent of the value of the silver. The 412-ft steamship is sitting upright on the seabed, with its holds open.
Odyssey said a robot submersible captured video footage showing tea chests, a sign that the heavier consignment of silver was underneath.
Hoard: The ship, which was torpedoed after breaking away from a convoy, was carrying silver
Uncovered: An intact toilet sits on the bridge deck of the SS Gairsoppa
Pick-up: Odyssey crew will no use remotely operated vehicles to get to the wreck and unload its precious cargo
'This should enable us to unload the cargo through the hatches,’ chief executive Greg Stemm added. The Gairsoppa is so deep the usual steel cable used in the grab mechanisms will have to be replaced by synthetic fibres.
The ship, recognisable by the red-and-black paintwork of the British-India Steam Navigation Company and the torpedo hole in its side, was sailing in a convoy from Calcutta in 1941.
Buffeted by high winds and running low on coal, the captain decided he would not make it to Liverpool and broke from the convoy to head for Galway.
A single torpedo from U-101 sank her in 20 minutes, on February 17, 1941. Three lifeboats were launched, but only Second Officer Richard Ayres made it to land, reaching the Cornish coast after 13 days.
Odyssey said yesterday the UK government was ‘desperately looking for new sources of income’ and was urging it to find more British wrecks. It is also investigating HMS Sussex, lost off Gibraltar with 10 tons of gold in 1694, and HMS Victory, a precursor to Nelson’s flagship.
In 2008 a U.S. judge ordered the firm to hand back gold and silver coins worth £300million to Spain, which said the treasure was taken from a frigate that sank in 1804.
Odyssey said the wreck’s identity was unclear and had been found in international waters
Treasure hunter: The RV Odyssey Explorer, bristling with high-tech equipment, which went looking for and found the wreck of the Gairsoppa
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
‘No place like a new home’… Dorothy’s ruby slippers could find a new dwelling
The set thought to have returned her from the Wizard of Oz's realm with a few clicks could bring $3m
"…never let those ruby slippers off your feet for a moment". Well, it seems that Dorothy eventually forgot that good advice from Glinda as a set of ruby slippers from her lengthy (and, as it turned out, totally unnecessary) journey to meet the Wizard of Oz has come up for auction.
The pair is one of four known surviving sets made for the film. The other three sets are unlikely to become available to collectors any time soon - only one of them is officially owned privately.
One set is in the Smithsonian, and the other is supposed to be in the Judy Garland museum, but they went for a walk several years ago, courtesy of persons unknown.
The set under discussion will be auctioned on December 16 in Los Angeles as part of a Hollywood memorabilia sale. They will not be cheap.
It is believed that these are the set which Dorothy finally clicked together (in close-up) to return her from Munchkinland to Kansas (they have light scuff marks on the soles).
They appear also to have been the first pair to appear in the story, on the remains of the evil witch Dorothy drops her house on.
Considering a pair of test slippers, a part of the Debbie Reynolds collection, sold a couple of months back for $612,000, it's perhaps not surprising that Profiles in History, who are auctioning the pair, have indicated that they expect them to achieve $2m-3m.
Collectors without access to that kind of money could always try jumping into the slippers on the day and flicking their heels together, but we wouldn't recommend it.
Source: www.paulfrasercollectibles.com
Police recover stolen stately home antiques worth £5m
The George lll rosewood table was specially made for Newby Hall in 1775
Millions of pounds worth of stolen antiques, which have significant cultural and historic value, have been recovered in a raid by police.
They are believed to be items stolen from Newby Hall and Sion Hill in North Yorkshire and Firle Place in Sussex.
The antiques include a rare Chippendale table, which was made specially for Newby Hall in 1775 and is said to be of global importance.
Two men, aged 68 and 44, have been arrested.
Police said the 68-year-old was from Tankersley, South Yorkshire, and the 44-year-old from Middleton, Leeds.
Both men are being questioned while the antiques continue to be formally identified by experts.
The raid comes after a year-long investigation by the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit.
Police said the 14 antiques were found at lock-ups at two residential premises in South and West Yorkshire on 22 September and were worth a total of £5m.
Also recovered was a pair of Louis XVI ormolu and Sevres bleu vases, with an insurance value of £950,000.
These were taken from Firle Place in July 2009 along with a Meissen statue, The Indiscreet Harlequin, and a rare Sevres Hollandois Nouveau vase of 1761, each valued at £180,000 each.
Another of the recovered antiques include an embellished bracket clock made by Daniel Delander of London in around 1710.
It is believed to be the same clock stolen from Sion Hill in Northallerton in February 2009.
Det Supt Steve Waite said: "This is an absolutely fantastic case and a great result for both the officers involved and the stately homes that have been affected by these thefts.
"We are so pleased and proud to have recovered these high value antiques which have been described as true pieces of British heritage.
Souce : BBC News
Amelia Earhart’s goggles sell at auction for $17,775…
Goggles worn by Amelia Earhart and photographs of the famed aviator pulled in more than $31,000 at an auction in the saleroom in Oakland, California.
A spokesman for Clars Auction Gallery says the winning bid for the set of 1920s Luxor aviator goggles with a cracked left lens was $17,775.
The goggles previously were owned by Barbara Englehardt, a Contra Costa County resident who got them from a friend about 20 years ago.
Sold: An original, unpublished personal photo of Amelia Earhart dated 1937, along with goggles she was wearing during her first plane crash
In addition to the goggles, 24 photographs were auctioned off Sunday morning for a total of $13,509.
The photographs included shots of Earhart making preparations for her round-the-world flight, as well as her plane taking off on March 17, 1937.
The March flight was one of two attempts Earhart made that year to circumnavigate the globe.
Her plane disappeared in the Pacific during the second attempt a few months later.
Sprucing up: Aviator Amelia Earhart has a haircut in Miami ahead of her doomed attempt to fly around the world in 1937
The photographs were unearthed along with Earhart's Luxor aviator goggles which she had worn during a flying lesson with instructor Neta Snook in 1921. The pair were involved in a minor crash and one eye-piece of the goggles was smashed.
The goggles and photographs were given by Mrs Snook to her daughter Diane Brown around 40 years ago and were almost thrown out.
Mrs Brown, 66, said: 'I thought at the time it was just old papers that weren't needed anymore. But something said not to throw it out. I don't know why, but something just kept telling me, "Get that back out of that bag".
Poignant moment: The aviator prepares for her attempt to fly around the world during which she disappeared
Source: Daily Mail Website
Meldonfoot classic car collection fetches £250,000…
A 1904 Cadillac was part of the Meldonfoot collection sold at auction
A selection of 13 classic cars from the Scottish Borders, some more than a century old, has raised more than £250,000 in the saleroom at auction.
The Meldonfoot collection went under the hammer at the Bonhams sale at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu.
The auctioneers said the collection had been shaped by an appreciation of the "mechanical genius of Henry Ford".
Among the highlights were a 1904 Cadillac and a very early 1910 Ford Model T Tourer. The vehicles were part of a large collection built up over several years. The first car bought was a 1923 Ford Model T Tourer.
After its purchase a large purpose-built motor house and workshop were built at the owner's Scottish Borders country home to accommodate the vehicles. They went under the hammer at the saleroom Bonhams sale on Saturday, raising a total of £259,225.
Source: BBC News Website
Cowan’s Fine and Decorative Arts Auction (Oct 8th)
Director of Fine and Decorative Art, Diane Wachs, discusses a beautiful Coin Silver Presentation Pitcher to be offered in Cowan's October 8 Fall Fine and Decorative Art auction.
Woman to sell £100k paintings from deceased employer…
Allan Ramsay's Amelia is to go under the hammer later this month
A secretary who was left two rare works of art from her deceased employer 40 years ago is set to make about £100k at auction in Glasgow.
The anonymous seller, now in her 90s, worked for businessman Charles Hepburn from 1936 until his death in 1971.
In his will, he left her a painting by 20th Century English artist Sir Alfred Munnings, and an other by Allan Ramsay - an 18th Century portrait painter.
He had said the gifts were a token of his gratitude towards his secretary.
Hepburn wrote in his will: ''... in token of my heartfelt appreciation of her lifetime of loving care and attention and of the most efficient and meritorious manner with which she discharged her duties throughout the best years of her life, never having been a day off her work or a minute late since she entered my services in Nineteen hundred and thirty six."
The paintings will go under the hammer at McTear's Auctioneers later this month.
'Exceptional condition'
Brian Clements, managing director at McTear's Auctioneers said: "This was a quite remarkable and generous gesture by Charles Hepburn as both Munnings and Ramsay are extremely influential artists.
"The condition of both paintings is quite exceptional."
Munnings' painting Zennor Hill, which features a horses and hounds hunting scene, has been valued between £80k and £120k.
Mr Clements continued: "Sir Alfred Munnings is considered one of the most accomplished British artists of the 20th Century and examples of his work can be found in many of the most prestigious galleries in the world and in numerous high profile corporate and private collections.''
The oil canvas painting by Allan Ramsay is said to be extremely important with its links to the American War of Independence.
The painting is the only known picture of the artist's daughter, Amelia, who was married to General Sir Archibald Campbell of Inverneil, one of the most prominent British officers in the American War of Independence.
It is believed to be worth about £30k to £50k.
Mr Clements said: ''This painting by Allan Ramsay has not been seen in public for a very long time and bearing in mind its subject matter and close connections with the American War of Independence it is likely to attract considerable attention.''
McTear's Autumn Fine Paintings sale is to take place in Glasgow, Scotland on 27 September at 18:00.
Source: BBC News Website
‘Made in Chelsea’ star Ollie Locke furnishes plush Chelsea pad…
with items bought at auction!
In the most recent episode of the hit reality show 'Made in Chelsea', eccentric star Ollie Locke showed off his newest purchase to friends Cheska and Binky.
His two best female friends visited the plush Chelsea pad to have a catch up over a bottle of wine and admired the new piece of furniture installed in his home, a vintage Union Jack upholstered Ottoman purchased at auction.
His girlfriend Chloe Green (daughter of Topshop mogul Philip Green) had picked up the item at a recent sale in the saleroom at Lots Road Auctions in Chelsea.
Ollie and girlfriend Chloe are not afraid to be bold when it comes to their fashion, they have been pictured a fair bit recently sporting Union Jack inspired apparel and now it looks like they want to extend this trend to Ollie's home!
Lots Road Auctions hold their 'Traditional, Contemporary and Modern Design Furniture and Fittings & Selected Antiques' sales at their premises on Lots Road, Chelsea every Sunday and often have pieces like Ollie's Union Jack ottoman, and other Union Jack inspired pieces up for grabs.
Amazing lost sketches of life inside Japanese PoW camp discovered…
in a shoe box by British war veteran's stunned family - and now they're going on the Antiques Roadshow
Astonishing drawings of British soldiers in brutal Japanese Prisoner of War camps have turned up nearly 70 years later on TV's Antiques Roadshow.
The lost sketches showing the appalling conditions the men endured were drawn by artist soldier John Mennie who gave them to fellow PoW Eric Jennings.
Mr Jennings never spoke about his wartime experiences and his family were stunned when they found the sketches stashed away in a shoe box after his death.
One of the drawings is a rare image of the 'Selerang Square Squeeze' - a shocking atrocity meted out to 16,000 PoWs in Changi, Singapore in 1942.
The Japanese kettled the Allied soldiers in a cramped square for five days in unbearable heat to make them sign documents stating they would not try to escape.
Many men died from disease and dysentery during the incident and four more were callously executed by their sadistic captors.
A second drawing shows a British surgeon carrying out a life-saving operation on an emaciated prisoner in the open.
Another picture shows a group of impoverished prisoners in their underpants singing Christmas carols to keep their spirits up.
There are also 30 excellent pencil portraits of PoWs and six larger colour drawings that depict the horrors of the situation.
Resolve: Wearing only their pants, these servicemen are depicted singing in a bid to keep their spirits up
After finding them in the shoe box Mr Jennings' family took them along to the BBC's Antiques Roadshow. They will appear on the programme this Sunday.
Graham Lay, an expert on the show, said: 'Artists risked their lives by drawing and painting in the camp because many of these drawings were used after the war for war crime trials, as evidence.
'Men like John Mennie could have been put into solitary confinement, they could have had food restricted from them, and they would have died as a result of this.
Stash: Eric Jennings, pictured during the war, never spoke of his experience in a Japanese prisoner of war camp
'Of the 60,000 Allied prisoners, 16,000 died as a result of working on that railway.' Mr Mennie, from Aberdeen, trained as an artist before he joined the Royal Artillery and was sent to Singapore in 1941.
When the British colony fell to the Japanese in 1942 thousands of Allied soldiers were rounded up and taken to PoW camps.
Mr Mennie, who died in 1982 aged 70, traded packets of cigarettes for Chinese watercolours and used scraps of paper, including rifle practice target paper, to work on.
It is unclear how the drawings were smuggled through his three-and-a-half years of incarceration in Singapore and Thailand.
It is thought Mennie gave the drawings to Mr Jennings, who was working as a journalist and was a member of the voluntary defence force when his liberty was taken.
Mr Jennings, who went on to continue his career as a journalist in the far east after World War II, kept hold of the drawings but told no one of their existance.
His granddaughter Kimo Morrison, whose mother-in-law Chris Booth took them to the roadshow in Manchester, said: 'My grandfather never spoke of his time during the war.
'He worked as a journalist in Singapore and was captured and spent four years as a prisoner in Singapore, Thailand and Burma.
'He was very lucky to survive and I think they had a doctor with them which was fortunate 'Only when he died about 15 year ago did we find these drawings in a shoe box.
'It was a real surprise.
'We think my grandfather and Mennie must have been held together at some point and my grandfather was given them.
Secret: Eric Jennings's family discovered John Mennie's drawings hidden in a shoe box after his death. Artists like Mennie risked their lives to capture the appalling conditions in the camps
A scene from the film 'Bridge On The River Kwai': Many prisoners would have worked on the infamous Thai-Burma railway, the 'death railway' as it's known, immortalised in the film
'We now hope to sell them to an institution or collector who would appreciate them. They are not the type of things I'd like on the wall because of the horrible story they tell.' Mrs Booth said: 'I love the Antiques Roadshow and when I said I was going Kimo said the family had some sketches and would I take them.
'I was delighted and the story was quite incredible. Eric never spoke about what he went through and to hear the story was very moving.' Graham Lay, the expert on the Antiques Roadshow, said: 'When the Japanese first captured the Allies, they forced them to sign a document to say that they weren't going to escape as prisoners of war.
'There were 16,000 PoWs squeezed into a square in Singapore and kept there for days on end under the blazing hot sun, in order to force them to sign this non-escape document.
'Here we have a drawing - I've never seen one before - showing that incident in September 1942.
'But the extraordinary thing is the quality of the drawing.
'It is a very important archive and the drawings are valuable. I think if these came up for auction today, they would be worth somewhere in the region of £800 to £1,200.'
Mr Mennie trained at the Grays School of Art in Aberdeen and then at the Westminster School of Art in London. He went on to teach art after the war.
High Fashion inspired by Antique Chinese Porcelain!
At London Fashion Week which officially opens today (Friday 16th September) Up-and-coming Greek designer Mary Katrantzou will showcase her fabulous new Spring/Summer 2012 collection.
Katrantzou states Sotheby's as one of her favourite cultural hotspots in London which comes as no surprise to us at UKauctioneers HQ having seen the pictures from her Autumn/Winter 2011 collection on the catwalks of February's London Fashion Week.
One dress which really stood out as we were leafing through the gallery of pieces was a high-necked oriental inspired shift dress, the skirt panel exactly replicating the pattern on the 18th Century Qianlong porcelain vase sold by Bainbridges auctioneers for a record-breaking £43 million back in November 2010.
Will we be seeing more antique inspired pieces from in her S/S 2011 collection? Tune in to Topshop live (http://live.topshop.com) to watch her catwalk show which takes place September 20th at 9am.
The record breaking £43mil Qianlong vase
The Mary Katrantzou dress inspired by Chinese Porcelain