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.
The “Hunter Figurehead Archives” offer visitors to it’s website a wonderful opportunity to buy a fine looking figurehead in the form of a young woman in a traditional costume of the nineteenth century, skilfully carved in sold mahogany, 90cm in height and 40 x 40cm with a weight of approximately 22.5 kg, (49.6 lbs) she was originally bought by the present owners father in Bremen Germany in the early 1970’s and is now offered for sale for the first time.
Not all that long ago looking for a book on the subject of Ships Figureheads was very much limited to a few “General” works on the subject, exploring as they did the tradition on both Merchant and Naval vessels, offering the reader a narrow insight into both subjects, for anyone interested in primarily Naval Figureheads “Old Ship Figureheads and Sterns” by L G Carr Laughton published in 1925 has been the principal source of information, dealing with the style and construction of decorative carved work on and around the bow and stern of vessels, as well as British Naval Figureheads, Laughton also deals with the tradition of decoration in other major European nations, such as France, Spain, The Netherlands and Scandinavia, with a number of re-prints over the years this I am sure will continue to be one of the primary sources of information, when Laughton began to write his book during the first quarter of the twentieth century.
Step into the reception of any World class hotel and you will be invariably greeted at the desk by an attractive young woman or handsome young man, always eager to help and make your stay as pleasant as possible, in the hope that you will visit them again or recommend the hotel to family and friends, was the room comfortable, the service and food good, all questions to make your stay as pleasant as possible. The facilities vary from hotel to hotel; some rely on Old World charm with a magnificent location, others modern and stylist, it’s a very competitive market.
Second Revised and Expanded Edition,
