Auction Catalogue

26 November 2024

Starting at 12:00 PM

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Jewellery, Watches, Silver and Objects of Vertu

Live Online Auction

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Lot

№ 620

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To be sold on: 26 November 2024

Estimate: £80–£100

Place Bid

A pair of Norwegian silver spoons commemorating the Amundsen-Ellsworth Flight to 87 degrees 44’ North, the finial depicting a portrait of Roald Amundsen, with walrus head below, stamped ‘830S’, and a Norwegian silver spoon by Brødrene Lohne, Bergen, stamped ‘830S’, lengths 13cm (x 2) and 14cm. (3) £80-£100

The bowl depicts two aeroplanes flying over the Northern hemisphere, a flag rising from the North Pole, and reading ‘POLFLYVNINGEN 21 MAI - 15 JUNI 1925 87-43-2-NB’. The spoons commemorate the incredible trans-polar expedition of 1925 when six men, including the Swede Amundsen and the American Polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth set out for the North Pole. Their expedition in two Dornier Do J flying boats, the N-24 and the N-25, reached 87 degrees 44 North, the northernmost latitude reached by a plane up to that time, over 100 miles from the North Pole. The N-24 however was damaged on landing. For over three weeks, the expedition worked to clear an airstrip to take off from the ice. Finally, the six-man expedition was packed into the N-25 and the pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was able to fly the plane and return the expedition to a triumphant home coming. All six men survived.