Eastbourne Auctions is almost as far from Dundee as you can get on the British mainland, but the two communities were linked on May 11 when the Sussex seaside saleroom sold a rare British Antarctic Expedition saucer bearing the emblem of the Terra Nova, the Dundee ship which carried Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s expedition to the Antarctic in 1910.
Specially made for the historic expedition, the English porcelain saucer was transfer printed with the emblem of a penguin standing on the southern hemisphere, encircled by the legend ‘British Antarctic Expedition, Terra Nova RYS.’
The Terra Nova, for course, was the vessel constructed in Stephen’s yard in 1884 for service at the other end of the world – the Arctic whaling grounds. The sturdy veterans of the Dundee fleet also proved perfect for polar expeditions, and were ultimately used by Scott, Shackleton, Nansen, Amundsen, Peary, Mawson and Byrd.
The saucer had a blue and gold gilt-lined rim and carried the maker’s mark of Dunn Bennett’s factory in Burslem. It came with an interesting provenance, having been given to the vendor’s publican father to meet a bad debt by the lock keeper at Eton on the River Thames.
Likely it was used at Captain Scott’s celebrated birthday party aboard the Terra Nova on the voyage to the Southern Seas, poignantly captured by the expedition photographer Herbert Ponting.
After discovering that they had been beaten in the race to the Pole by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, Scott and four companions perished just 11 miles short of their next supply depot.
Rather conservatively estimated at £100-£200, the saucer soared to a multi estimate £1300.
Picture: Terra Nova expedition saucer £1300 (Eastbourne Auctions).
