The Figurehead Archives
Built up during a period of over 40 years the full Figurehead Archive can be divided into two quite distinctive areas of research, the first and 
perhaps most important are the photographic representations of Ships Figureheads, both on and off the vessels, plus a number of other Maritime Woodcarvings, such as Stern Board Carvings, and Cats Heads, this is built up from historic Black and White prints taken from the early 1900’s until the late 1950’s, to more contemporary prints in colour, and now digital images.
The Archive also has an extensive collection of colour slides from both private and public collections around the world, many show Figureheads that have been lost due to war, fire, neglect, or are no longer on public display or form part of private collections.
In many ways it has been possible to study the life of individual carvings over a long period of time, looking at both historic black and white photos and more contemporary prints showing before and after restoration or damage, at the moment the photographic collection stands at around 45,000 images, including slides, photographs and digital images, with new items added almost daily.
The second part of the Figurehead Archive is a library of over 800 books and publications on the subject of Ships Figureheads, Maritime, Woodcarvings, Maritime Antiques including a large number of magazines, newspaper articles and cuttings from the 1850’s to the present day from all around the world. As with the photographic collection the bibliography material is being constantly added to building a collection and archive of international importance.
Richard Hunter,
Figurehead Historian.
M.V. Chalice, Bed and Breakfast, Dartmouth
Phil and his partner Karen are offering a very unique and new opportunity for 2010 to enjoy a 'floating' bed & breakfast on board Chalice.
New Nelson Figurehead
Well known for his original three dimensional artwork across a wide range of media and styles,for the unique carving Glyn has spent a considerable amount of time in the galleries of the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth researching the numerous images of Nelson, from the museums major collection of related paintings, decorative arts to the evocative life and death masks, building up a feel of how the real Nelson looked, the man behind the legend, once this essential research was completed a half size clay model of the figurehead was made, historically cavers of such an important and significant commission produced a small Maquette for the client showing how they hoped the finished carving would look, these models also served as a three-dimensional guide for the finished carving with a number of minor changes. Charles Miller Ltd
Auctioneer of fine figureheads and other nautical treasures,
Charles Miller
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The Warship Figureheads of PortsmouthBy David Pulvertaft 
The Warship Figureheads of Portsmouth By David Pulvertaft
Ship’s FigureheadsBy Hans Jurgen Hansen and Clas Broder Hansen |
This years London Boat show held at the ExCel Centre in the London Docklands between the 8th and 12th January saw the first public appearance of the Hampshire based carver Glyn Foulkes new figurehead of the iconic British Naval hero Horatio Lord Nelson.
This very interesting book is almost a photographic essay on the Worlds surviving Ships Figureheads with a feast of over 100 illustrations both black and white and full page colour images of Naval and Merchant carvings taken from the collections of Museums around the World, with a selection of carvings that have been fortunate enough to survive the visitations of a hard working life at sea, situated as they are high above the pounding sea, in all weathers, many have been tragically removed from the scenes of great maritime disasters, others less dramatically disregarded when the vessel had unfortunately outlived it’s working life.
Just published a gallery of Figurehead images by Richard Hunter , click here to visit the site...
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