Art News

The last bell from the Mauretania in private hands to be offered in Maritime sale

LONDON.- A gleaming brass bell from RMS Mauretania (sister of Lusistania, c.1906), which latterly hung in Cunard’s offices in the Liver Building in Liverpool will be offered by Charles Miller Ltd on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 in his sale of Maritime & Scientific Models, Instruments & Art in London (25, Blythe Road, W14). The bell, the only one not in a museum, is estimated to fetch £8,000-10,000. Two lamps, also from RMS Mauretania will also be in the auction and are estimated at £1,000-1,500 each. One of the heavier pieces in the sale is a wheel from the engine room of HMS Dreadnought, the Royal Navy’s first modern Battleship – which revolutionised naval power in 1906. Estimated at £400-600, this is the first time it has been on the market and has come from a private collection in Sweden. A 2-day chronometer, dating from 1916, by Victor Kullberg (Maker to the Admiralty) from another Battleship, HMAS