BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION (1910-1913) - APSLEY GEORGE BENET CHERRY-GARRARD (1886-1959)
A WHITE WOOLLEN BOBBLE HAT

These lots have been imported from outside the EU … Read more

Property from the Collection of David Gainsborough Roberts

BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION (1910-1913) - GEORGE P. ABBOTT (1887-1923)A WOLSEY KNITTED WOOL BALACLAVA

CIRCA 1910

Details

BRITISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION (1910-1913) - GEORGE P. ABBOTT (1887-1923)
A WOLSEY KNITTED WOOL BALACLAVA
CIRCA 1910
The interior with additional black woollen patches sewn in as extra protection for the ears, with face aperture and two side flaps, with cotton label 'THE WOLSEY UNSHRINKABLE'

Provenance

George P. Abbott (B.A.E Shore party, member of the 'Northern Party').
Thence by descent.
Christie's, London, 18 April 2000, lot 187.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Lot Essay

Petty Officer George Abbott was the senior seaman in Scott's Northern Party, responsible for many of the manual tasks. He emerges from his own, and other accounts, as a cheerful, practical and adaptable worker - in many ways typical of the spirit of Scott's last expedition. During the Northern Party's bitter winter in the ice cave at Inexpressible Island, however, it was perhaps Abbott who suffered the most: a slippery pocket knife, used in the desperate butchering of a seal in the depths of the winter when supplies were running out, deprived him of the use of three fingers in his right hand. The psychological toll was even greater, and he suffered a breakdown after his return to Cape Evans.

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