Nelson & His World

I am sure I recall reading 'somewhere' that a rather dodgy descendant of Hardy started to put Nelson 'relics' on the market sometime in the early-mid 20th century, I think. They were complete fakes but, of course, because of the Hardy connection they had a seemingly convincing provenance.

Does anyone know any more about this? Mark, I'm sure you do!

Anna

Definitely there was a supposed descendant of Hardy selling artefacts supposedly belonging to him.

My gut feeling is that it was in the 19th century but it may have been into the 20th.

At the moment I can't think how to track back to it.

I will do my best - but don't hold your breath!!

MB

Wow - it was more recent than I remembered - 1932.

This is the lady - Miss Pamela Hardy.

Now I can't remember whether the provenance of these items was officially questioned - or whether it was part of some wider discussion we had.

I get there bit by bit.

There was something nagging at the back of my mind about a chest supposedly belonging to Captain Kidd.

This may well be the article which started the discussion we had:

http://captainkidd.org/3rd%20Discovery.html

MB

Thanks for the details, Mark. The name Pamela Hardy jogged my memory and reminded me about where I had come across this information. It's in 'The Authentic Nelson' by Rina Prentice. Miss Hardy's name appears on numerous documents guaranteeing the authenticity of a huge number of items which had been purportedly bequeathed to her by her great grandfather, John Hardy, brother of the Admiral. John Hardy, however, died unmarried, and left all his property to his sisters. The 'Captain Kidd' chest mentioned above is one of the items with the false Pamela Hardy provenance.

Many of the spurious items, Rina Prentice notes, 'were regularly appearing with inscriptions associated with everyone who had played a part in Nelson's life, his ships and his naval actions. The more dubious relics tended to be inscribed with a superfluity of initials, names, dates and other details, often in a most inappropriate and unlikely way. .....one silver watch..inscribed 'HN from CC 1800', supposedly presented to Nelson by Collingwood, is unfortunately hallmarked 1807.'

Pamela Hardy's address is given as Lushington Road, Eastbourne and the items were put on the market by an Eastbourne dealer. The elusive Miss Hardy is said to have died in Spain in 1931. Whether she ever existed or was a figment of the dealer's imagination, is not clear. Perhaps one of our genealogists can prove/disprove her existence!

Rina Prentice also gives details of a more recent scam in 1998 at a Dorset saleroom when numerous Nelson memorabilia, all with an elaborate provenance, proved to be fakes: for example, a 'piece of the flag torn up at Nelson's funeral' proved to have been dyed with modern dyes. In this case, the perpetrator was convicted and sent to prison.

There must be a whole raft of such fakes lurking in numerous locations, perhaps, sadly, treasured by their owners. Your scepticism in these matters is wise, Mark!