Duke of Edinburgh’s World tour 1959 on HM Yacht Britannia

This large triangular racing burgee is made from pieced wool bunting with machine stitching with three vertical red, white and red stripes. The white stripe showing a blue shield with a white star and crescent moon motif below a royal crown. The leading edge is inscribed in black ink ‘R. Portsmouth Corin n/t’. It is accompanied by a copy of a black edged letter on Buckingham Palace writing paper dated 10th July 1936 saying ‘Dear Sir, I am commanded by the King and Queen Mary to send you these flags which were flown on board “Britannia” at various times during her career, including one of her racing flags. Their Majesties hope you will like to keep these in your club house as souvenirs of the old yacht. Yours Derek Keppell, Master of the Household, The Commodore, Royal Portsmouth Corinthian Yacht Club.” It is offered with a Royal Portsmouth Corinthian Yacht Club printed silk racing programme for the Sixth Regatta in Osborne Bay, 1883, with a gold fringe and a button attached with a red seal to a tag stating ‘Seabed Pattern Button Corinthian Yacht Club, jacket and vest, 1880’, in an envelope ‘On H.M. Service’ addressed to ‘General His Serene Highness, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, Commodore of the Corinthian Yacht Club, Government House...

A plaster military trophy panel from the Duke of Gordon’s house in Edinburgh, the panel carved with a panoply including a shield, quiver, wrapped standard and sword, all within an oa...

This ‘en grisaille’ watercolour on paper is Charles Dixon’s preparatory sketch for a proposed but apparently uncompleted painting of the royal racing yacht Britannia...

A racing flag from the Royal Sailing Yacht Britannia, circa 1936. This large racing flag was made from pieced wool bunting with machine stitched bunting and a canvas sleeve stamped ‘5’. It is of rectangular form with the Prince of Wales feathers enclosed in a ducal coronet and the motto ‘Ich Dien’ on a halved blue and red ground, later framed and glazed. It is accompanied by a black edged letter on Buckingham Palace writing paper dated 10th July 1936 saying ‘Dear Sir, I am commanded by the King and Queen Mary to send you these flags which were flown on board “Britannia” at various times during her career, including one of her racing flags. Their Majesties hope you will like to keep these in your club house as souvenirs of the old yacht. Yours Derek Keppell, Master of the Household, The Commodore, Royal Portsmouth Corinthian Yacht Club.” King George died on 20 January 1936 which explains the black edge to the letter. English, circa 1936. Height: 43in (109cm) Width:60in (152.5cm) Framed height: 57½ in (146 cm) Width: 81½ in (207cm) Provenance: Royal Naval Club & Royal Albert Yacht Club, Portsmouth R.S.Y. Britannia played an important part in preparing challengers for the America’s Cup. She was used as a trial horse for the Shamrocks and later, after conversion, for most of the ‘J’ Class yachts of the 1930s. Britannia was built in 1893 according to the plans of G. L. Watson for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, a keen and able helmsman. From the beginning, Britannia was a successful racing yacht winning races against Kaiser Wilhelm’s Meteors, among many others. Britannia won over two hundred races in her career — a record that has yet to be surpassed. She was beaten once by Navahoe, one of Herreshoff’s boats, but fared better against another America’s Cup yacht, Vigilant, winning twelve races out of seventeen. When Britannia was converted to race in the ‘J’ Class she was stripped of her bulwarks, given a one-piece mast and a Bermudan mainsail. The transition did not interrupt her run of success, although she performed best in hard weather. She was scuttled off the Isle of Wight at the dying request of George V. A grisaille by Charles Dixon of R S Y Britannia racnig at Cowes. Credit: Wick Antiques

Presented is an Apollo 16 mission photograph, signed and inscribed by Apollo 16 moonwalker Charlie Duke. The photograph shows Duke collecting lunar samples n...

Skyscrapers: A History of the World's Most Famous and Important Skyscrapers. By Judith Dupre, Published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York, N.Y., 1996. 1st Edition, 1st Printing. Extremely tall elephant folio (18 inches tall x 8 inches). Large hardcover coffee table book. Now, bigger than ever, this long-awaited revised edition of Judith Dupré's best-selling Skyscrapers is a giant celebration of today's most significant superstructures. It features an all-new design with full-color photographs, 10 new buildings, and informative updates throughout. Includes Foreword; Introductory Interview with Philip Johnson. List of One Hundred Tallest Buildings in the World. Profusely illustrated with black-and-white photographs. The lower front left jacket corner contains a repaired one inch closed tear; the jacket is otherwise in fine condition. ".This magnificent tour presents a fascinating look at fifty of the greatest skyscrapers in the world. Breathtaking photographs capture details often missed by the naked eye; architectural drawings and pictures of works-in-progress take you behind the scenes and enrich your understanding of the efforts involved in erecting many of the buildings; facts-at-a-glance charts give you the vital statistics, including the locations of the structure, its height, the primary architect, the date of completion, materials used, and information about its place in architectural history.You'll encounter such architectural pioneers as William Le Baron Jenney, who took advantage of new technologies like fireproofing, elevators, and electrical lights to create, in 1885, the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, generally acknowledged to be the first skyscraper; Daniel Burnham, who, inspired by the irregular building site, designed NewYork's Flatiron Building, a dramatic triangular structure that exuberantly mixes Gothic and Renaissance motifs; and Miles van der Rohe, whose elegant, monumental Seagram Building epitomizes the ideals of the modernist movement.From the ancient pyramids of Egypt...

"We are Africans not because we are born in Africa, but because Africa is born in us. Look around you and behold us in our greatness. Greatness is an African possibility; you can mak...

A History of Ballet and Dance in the Western World Book by Alexander Bland. Title A History of Ballet and Dance in the Western World Author Alexander Bland Publisher Praeger, 1976...