Lot 426
A CAST IRON UNICORN ARMORIAL SUPPORTER
19TH CENTURY
Scottish Works of Art & Whisky
Auction: 17 August 2022 at 11:00 BST
£504
Description
bearing cadency for Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe Coburg
Dimensions
76cm wide
Footnote
Note: Prince Alfred, appointed Duke of Edinburgh in 1866, had a varied and successful naval career. Promoted to Admiral of the fleet in 1893, Percy Scott's memoirs note 'as commander in chief, the Duke of Edinburgh had, in my humble opinion, no equal'.
Current thinking on this piece shows it to be from the Duke's flagship, HMS Alexandra.
Known as the 'Old Alex', the ship spent the majority of its career as a flagship, notably working in operations dissuading Russian aggression toward the Ottoman Empire.