up for consideration is an extremely rare and highly desirable late 19th early 20th Century Arts & Crafts era Bench made by Goodall Lamb & Heighway of Manchester from the salvaged timber of the HMS Foudroyant (1798-1897) of Lord Admiral Nelson Fame. The bench is quite substantial with lifting seat and hand hammered copper relief plaque depicting the HMS Foudroyant in full sail. It measures 53.5 inches or (135 cm) in height by about 23 inches deep or (58cm) by approximately 49 inches or (124 cm) in length. The seat height is about 18 inches or (46 cm). It sports the original tag on the back from "Goodall Lamb & Heighway" of Manchester stating that the timber and metal is salvaged from the HMS Foudroyant. Overall it is wonderful condition with old holes plugged etc. Please read condition report above. There is a plethora of information regarding the history or HMS Foudroyant. It was purchased by a consortium of Antique dealers in around 1897 and the materials were salvaged and items were manufactured and or repurposed and sold in the form of souvenirs. A whole cottage industry came about selling many metal medallions commemorating the vessel including walking canes metal objects small cabinets chairs etc...A catalogue was produced of which one could purchase a piece of furniture that was made from the salvaged wood and metal from the above mentioned company Goodall Lamb & Heighway. As one may already surmise the larger more complex pieces are exceedingly rare and possibly one of kind and command huge dollars in today's market. The catalogue does show this piece which illustrates the basic form as being No. 24 `however it does not display any such of the Arts & Crafts embellishments as we have seen here with this piece which were no doubt in the style of the Great Archibald Knox of Liberty & Company fame. Furthermore aesthetically you can't really get any better than this it is a well balanced, proportional with deep dramatic carving and a super copper relief hand hammered insert depicting HMS Foudroyant in full sail. Remember this was made right in and around the Arts Crafts movement so you can definitely see the influence and in the last instance someone had to sketch and or plan something. It is no doubt a commissioned piece perhaps some help from a noted designer at the time...please understand history isn't as defined and linear as we think...just because it isn't written somewhere in a ledger on a label doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Artists sat in pubs and their studios and someone could have easily sketched something out for a friend or colleague be a college student to one of the greats and of course they had quite a few pounds to commission such a piece. This is not a stamped out brass button someone or a small team worked on it for quite some time... The design came from someone somewhere and there was a guiding hand. A recent auction in Florida May 27th 2020 sold a hanging cabinet from Goodall Lamb & Heighway from reclaimed timber from the HMS Foudroyant which probably set a record for Foudroyant pieces at $110,000 in US dollars. That's quite remarkable and in the last instance demands a whole recalibration of value for the higher end pieces as shown here. You probably also know that private collectors and museums play a big role driving the market up when battling for such coveted pieces of historical significance. Likewise this piece crosses over to so many areas of historical interest not limited to Nautical, Military and British Military Campaigns, War, Ships, Travel, Life at Sea, International Politics, Economics...but even the drama involving the love affair of a British Naval Hero of which that movies were made and books written. There literally is no end to this enchanting piece of history.
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JohnnyCrystal Est. 1987