Nelson & His World

I think the future purchaser would be pleased to have this information; it all adds to the pleasure of ownership. Maybe an email to Sotheby's, Tony?

Yes, I agree Keats will not have been 100% responsible for Charles Nelson's commission, but I'm sure he will have been infuential, and possibly instrumental. It is clear that Keats was Charles Nelson's patron for the first six years of his career, and it looks as though Charles Nelson was with Keats in the Hibernia at Cadiz or Toulon at the time of his promotion. Keats was the commander at Cadiz, and second in command to Pellew at Toulon. It is even possible that Keats had already made Charles Nelson acting lieutenant (or rather, had recommended it to Pellew), and that the commission on 5 Feb 1812 was the Admiralty confirming the promotion. Rather a lot of surmise here, though, I'm afraid!

I would have thought this information should be of interest to Sotheby's, but don't feel particularly inclined to help them earn themselves an even bigger premium! But I have no problem with anyone passing all this on if they so wish. Or Shhh... we could just keep the info to ourselves here in the forum - - Any purchaser worth their salt will have visited here before buying anyway - especially if Google is eavesdropping!

With the latest news of the generous donation by Lord Sainsbury to the British Museum and if anyone here has been listening to the excellent Radio 4's History of the World in a 100 Objects, I wonder if this could be the 101st and saved for the Nation.

According to the lot description, it is by direct family descent from Admiral William Keats, nephew of Richard Keats.

I can thoroughly recommend a read of the very lavish and very interesting sale catalogue here: http://www.mortonandeden.com/pdfcats/45web.pdf - a 48 page catalogue for a sale comprising just 5 lots! It is packed with detailed research into the life of Richard Keats and the items in the sale. However the research does fall down on the William Nelson - Charles Nelson - Richard Keats connection. It rather tentatively suggests that the gift of the star may have marked acts of patronage or kindness of Keats towards Charles Nelson or others. But although there is considerable detail about the patronage to Charles Nelson, and it quotes a letter from Keats to Horatio Nelson, and one to William Nelson in 1806, it says categorically (and incorrectly) that the latter 1806 letter is the one and only 'piece of correspondence between Keats and William Nelson' that has 'survived in the public domain', making no mention of the letter of 6 Feb 1812 held by the National Maritime Museum - which is just about as public as you can get! I must admit that it is a shame to see the research published without the extra information available, so I have now emailed the auctioneer about the 1812 letter - and suggested that they may like to post future research queries here!

Did anyone hear the BBC Radio 4 programme, Making History on the Star. Well worth a listen too.

Keats had no children. Though he was friends with Nelson

Can anyone tell me how one can order the catalogue proper, I can't seem to get directed with either auction houses?

Cheers

Stephen, the 'About Us' page at http://www.mortonandeden.com/ has links to individual email addresses as well as the general contact details at the bottom of the page.

The star was not sold. Does anyone know what happened?

Tony, I have learn't that it remains unsold, bidding went up to Stg 240.000. At the moment that's all I know.

Wow! That's a bit steep for a reserve price, if that's what happened.

It is steep especially when you consider the auctioneer's premium @ 20%, import duty @ 5% and vat @ 17.5%. That takes the overall price to over £350,000 but still not enough! Yet I still thought it would go for more.

Just received a copy of the auction catalogue, thanks to EBay. Fascinating stuff, does anyone have any latest information on the item?