Full details of each lot are displayed, except the lot number, estimate and price. You must be a subscriber to view lot numbers, estimates and prices.

Click here to view registration and subscription levels

Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
8-Dec-2015
Lot No.
***
Description:
A silver mounted polar bear skull with gaping jaws and three removable silver beakers. 25 cm high, 31 cm long. The skull was part of the Archive of Gordon Burt, OBE (Christie's Australia, 28 November 1996, Lot 472). Gordon Burt was the Engineer on the 1925 British Arctic Expedition to Svalbard and Franz-Josef Land, the last Expedition to this region in a Sailing Ship. The Expedition was jointly led by Frank Worsley, a New Zealander, who had been with Shackleton in the Antarctic, and Grettin Alganson, a Canadian of Icelandic descent. In photographs of polar bears from the Expedition, Burt captioned on one: 'These animals were not shot for sport, fresh meat is an antidote for scurvy', and records in his diary as 'working on skins and skulls'
Estimate:
***
Price:
***
Category:
Industry Science & Technology: Natural History