Saleroom BONHAMS LONDON Fine discovery BY DAVE SELBY No dog can be considered ordinary, right) that commemorates the Above: Joe’s and Joe was even less so. His life was pioneering polar explorer’s bond with studded collar. short but full of adventure. his loyal husky. Another touching Right: bronze Joe was born in the Antarctic in tangible memento is Joe’s collar, which statue of 1898 on Carsten Borchgrevink’s was one of the top sellers in Bonhams’ Bernacchi and Southern Cross expedition and taken most recent polar auction, Joe. Below: classic on by physicist Louis Bernacchi, who commanding £8,750. book found on put him to work as a sled dog. In the same sale, copies of Lewis the Discovery Bernacchi took Joe back to Australia Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in fetched top sum in 1900, but the inseparable pair were Wonderland and Through the soon on their way to Antarctica again Looking Glass also provided a when the naturalised Australian joined connection to the heroic age of polar Scott’s fi rst South Pole expedition aboard Discovery. As the only member of the team with previous BJØRN CHRISTIAN TØRRISSEN Antarctic experience, Bernacchi’s exploration. The two works, from the contribution was key. Joe’s was heroic. non-offi cer library on the mess-deck The young husky was one of a aboard Scott’s Discovery, sold for team that hauled sleds on what £2,250. Meanwhile, an unopened became the record-breaking farthest Colman’s mustard tin fetched £350, journey south (82° 17’S). On the despite being more than 100 return, as food for the dogs ran short, years past its sell-by date; Joe’s strength failed and he was put a relic of relish See more down on 8 January 1903. from Shackleton’s Saleroom Visitors to Hobart, Tasmania, will 1907-09 Nimrod online have seen the bronze statue (pictured expedition. www.classicboat.co.uk/ saleroom for more stories COMING UP BONHAMS Beating the Blitz COMING UP CHARLES MILLER LTD Flying the fl ag This 19th century fi gurine survived the Zeppelins of the First World War, but during the Second World This historically signifi cant, 15-star US Navy jack saw action War Blitz he was removed from the store frontage of on Lake Ontario as US Navy ships battled the Brits in the nautical instrument maker Joseph Hughes. Just as well, as Anglo-American War of 1812, which, as history records, the shop was destroyed. The carved wooden fi gure, ended in a famous draw. standing 42in (107cm) tall and holding a real brass sextant, The jack (a fl ag to be fl own on the prow of American naval is part of Bonhams’ vessels) is a 1795 design, featuring a star for each of the 24 April London original 13 states and an additional two for Vermont and marine sale, where Kentucky (the 15-star design was used by the United States it’s expected to fetch from 1795 to 1818, when another fi ve stars were added). £20,000-£25,000. Further enhancing the fl ag’s value is its ownership by Captain This is a fi ne example Thomas Brown, who served of the storefront under Commodore Chauncey. promotional fi gures, To be sold with an oil portrait of which started to Brown, the lot is expected to appear on nautical fetch £18,000-£25,000 at Charles retailers in the Miller Ltd’s next London marine fi rst quarter of the sale on 1 May. 18th century. CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2013 25 CB 299 Saleroom.indd 25 09/04/2013 10:05.