Model of a bone warship, made by French prisoners, Great Britain, 1793-1815.

A tobacco tasting pipe made of genuine carved meerschaum with a genuine amber mouthpiece. It depicts a single-masted sailing ship with unfurled sails and sailors. Original leather-li...

Rare model of scale for seeds. Wooden and iron. France 1830 ca.

Miniature Wunderkammer architectural model, entirely handmade, in painted balsa wood, depicting the Eiffel Tower. Grand Tour item. Original patina. France early 20th century.

An important Italian diorama in a rectangular display case depicting a complex marine environment. The large wooden cabinet, crafted from Italian walnut, is shaped like a parallelepi...

A Napoleonic era bone prisoner of war model of the 40-gun frigate ‘Creolian’, the three masted barque with a planked hull, finely detailed with a carved poop deck and a female figurehead, intricate black thread rigging and a black plaque stating in gilt, Creolian. In the original glazed wooden case with a painted background of a sunset over a bay with ships on the horizon. French, circa 1800. Provenance Ivan Roll Amis, d. 1 July 1970 Richard Henry Allen Amis, CBE, thence by descent During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), large numbers of French soldiers and marines were taken prisoner. To help pass the time and generate a small income, they would make a variety of objects—including ship models—from simple, easily-sourced materials such as bone and wood for sale at local markets. Typically, the models were not made to scale and tools were limited, making the quality and attention to detail in this work even more remarkable. To realise a good price at market, the models were often named after famous ships of the time. It may well be that this ship was the ‘Créole’, a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. She served in the Brest squadron, took part in Ganteaume’s expeditions of 1801 to Egypt, and was involved in the French acquisition of Santo Domingo (also known as the Era de Francia) and briefly detained Toussaint Louverture...

Early twentieth century model of a British Royal Frigate. Rigged with a suit of ten sails. Three decks of guns with cannon running out of the gunports. The shrouds are properly clove...

New Bedford whale ship model "Cortez". Full wood model, fully rigged. Made by Captain Hall. Provenance: Original owner purchased ship model from the New Yor...

Wooden antique ship model of a cargo-carrack, probably from Genoa, with three masts, end of the 19th century. Very good conditions. Measures: Length cm 70 - inches 28, height cm 56 ...