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AUCTIONEERS VIGULENCE RESCUES PREVIOUSLY LOST PIECE OF NAVEL HISTORY

The cribbage board used by Lord Nelson & Admiral Quilliam on their way to the battle of Trafalgar has been found in a locked dusty desk drawer by Auctioneer Toby Jenkins of Auction-Plus, having been lost & its presents unknown for over 70 years.
Auction-Plus against strong opposition, were successful in obtaining the clearance and sale of a heritage museum. Among some other 800 items from the sale museum was a Georgian desk which had been locked for as long as any of the museum staff were aware. Thinking that a locked desk would have very little value the Auctioneers set about trying to open it. After struggling with one particularly stubborn internal drawer they found inside an early Scrimshaw cribbage board with an early ink inscription reading: “The cribbage board of Victory Nelson & Admiral Quilliam”. Next to this was a hand written museum label dating to around the 1940’s which detailed the name of the original donor as being a Byron S.G Penn. Toby stated that at first we thought this to be too good to be true, but it later transpired through records in the national archive among others that Byron Penn was a direct descendant of Admiral Quilliam, his grandmother being Admiral Quilliams niece. And records show that a number of items & diaries were donated to the borough from where the piece of furniture originated and has come to auction.
Admiral Quilliam a Manx man was actually the person who steered the Victory into the battle of Trafalgar, by way of rigged up ropes after the ships main wheel had been blown apart.
The cribbage board (Lot 745) along with other museum items ranging from Victorian Kitchenalia, and a large section of costume & textiles as well as 18th century glass ware, silver & gold etc, will be auctioned on October 20th & 21st. The full catalogue of which is available via this web site.